119-sres217

[Congressional Bills 119th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 217 Introduced in Senate

    (IS) ]

<DOC>

119th CONGRESS
 1st Session
S. RES. 217

 Expressing the sense of the Senate that Secretary of Health and Human 
Services Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. does not have the confidence of 
the Senate or of the American people to faithfully carry out the duties 
 of his office.

_______________________________________________________________________

 IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

 May 12, 2025

Ms. Alsobrooks (for herself, Mr. Wyden, Mr. Van Hollen, and Ms. Warren) 
submitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee 
 on Finance

_______________________________________________________________________

 RESOLUTION

 Expressing the sense of the Senate that Secretary of Health and Human 
Services Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. does not have the confidence of 
the Senate or of the American people to faithfully carry out the duties 
 of his office.

Whereas, while serving as the Secretary of Health and Human Services (referred 
 to in this preamble as the ``Secretary''), Robert Fitzgerald Kennedy 
 Jr., in violation of his constitutional oath, has engaged in a pattern 
 of conduct that is incompatible with his constitutional and statutory 
 duties as the Secretary, including by--

    (1) failing to meet his obligations under 

section 1701 of the Public 
Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 300u), including the obligation to support 
``research and demonstrations respecting health information and health 
promotion, preventive health services, and education in the appropriate use 
of health care'' and to increase ``the application and use of health 
knowledge, skills, and practices by the general population in its patterns 
of daily living'';

    (2) failing to meet his obligations under sections 402 and 464z-3 of 
the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 282; 285t), wherein it is clear 
that the congressional intent of National Institutes of Health research is 
to support programs for research, research training, and recruitment that 
``provide for an increase in the number of women and individuals from 
disadvantaged backgrounds (including racial and ethnic minorities) in the 
fields of biomedical and behavioral research'' and to support research and 
training ``with respect to minority health conditions and other populations 
with health disparities'';

    (3) failing to meet his obligations under the many statutes that govern 
the programs of the Department of Health and Human Services (referred to in 
this preamble as the ``Department'') and appropriate funding for the 
Department to administer such programs, in violation of Federal law and the 
Constitution of the United States, through his directed reduction in force 
and reorganization of Department functions, which was initiated with little 
regard to the impact of the reductions on congressionally mandated 
activities, the efficacy of government programs and services, or the very 
legality of the reductions; and

    (4) failing to meet his obligations under the Older Americans Act of 
1965 (42 U.S.C. 3001 et seq.), the Developmental Disabilities Assistance 
and Bill of Rights Act of 2000 (42 U.S.C. 15001 et seq.), and the 
Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (29 U.S.C. 701 et seq.), which together entrust 
the Secretary with ensuring both older Americans and individuals with 
disabilities are afforded the inherent dignity they are entitled to, 
including living where they choose with the ability to fully participate in 
their communities;

Whereas, under the direction of political leadership, the National Institutes of 
 Health has sent hundreds of letters to Federal grant recipients at 
 public research institutions announcing that various grants have been 
 terminated because they ``no longer effectuate agency priorities'', 
 resulting in delays and terminations that have caused direct, immediate, 
 significant, and irreparable harm to the States and to public research 
 institutions;
Whereas, on March 24, 2025, the Department abruptly and arbitrarily terminated 
 $11,000,000,000 of critical public health funding from States across the 
 country, jeopardizing disease surveillance programs, substance abuse 
 services, emergency preparedness initiatives, and funding to modernize 
 State programs for childhood immunization and access to vaccinations, 
 causing serious harm to public health and leaving States at risk for 
 pandemics and the spread of disease;
Whereas these terminations exceeded the Secretary's statutory authority and are 
 unlawful under subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 7, of title 5, 
 United States Code (commonly known as the ``Administrative Procedure 
 Act'');
Whereas in late February of 2025, the Secretary and the Director of the National 
 Institutes of Health launched a ``reckless and illegal purge'' of 
 hundreds of research projects because they allegedly had ``some alleged 
 connection to `gender identity' or diversity, equity, and inclusion'', 
 when in reality, this new mandate was used as a guise to cut research 
 from diverse researchers, diverse populations, or research related to 
 health disparities;
Whereas, according to court filings, this research included grants for 
 Alzheimer's research, research on disparities in pregnancy health, 
 violence prevention among children, and the efficacy of preventative HIV 
 medications, and as a result of these actions, ``scientific advancements 
 will be delayed, treatments will go undiscovered, human health with be 
 compromised, and lives will be lost'';
Whereas 2 days after being sworn in as the Secretary, 5,200 probationary workers 
 across multiple agencies of the Department received termination notices, 
 in which these workers were told that they were ``not fit for continued 
 employment because your ability, knowledge and skills do not fit the 
 Agency's current needs, and your performance has not been adequate to 
 justify further employment at the Agency'';
Whereas, on March 27, 2025, the Secretary announced that the Department would 
 begin to terminate an additional 10,000 employees as part of a broader 
 effort to push 20,000 Federal civil servants out of Federal health 
 agencies and consolidate divisions;
Whereas, on April 1, 2025, the termination notices began, with consequences that 
 were, according to litigation, ``severe, complicated, and potentially 
 irreversible'';
Whereas, on April 1, 2025, most of the staff from the 8 Offices of Minority 
 Health across the Department were eliminated at the Secretary's 
 direction as part of a Department-wide reorganization, including the 
 entire Office of Minority Health at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid 
 Services;
Whereas sections 1707 and 1707A of the Public Health Service Act (42 U.S.C. 
 300u-6; 300u-6a) mandate the existence of these offices and 

section 10334

    (b)

    (3) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (42 U.S.C. 
 300u-6a note; Public Law 111-148) specifically prohibits the termination 
 or reorganization of these offices absent an Act of Congress;
Whereas the Secretary has undertaken mass firings at the Administration for 
 Children and Families, reducing the agency's staffing footprint by 35 to 
 40 percent, that endanger children and seniors and undermine the 
 provision of essential services like child care, Head Start, adoption 
 and foster care, and adult and child protective services;
Whereas the Secretary has initiated steps to reorganize the Administration for 
 Community Living, terminating half of the staff at the Department that 
 work on Federal aging and disability programs and causing real harm to 
 programs that support more than 11,000,000 seniors and 70,000,000 
 Americans with disabilities;
Whereas critical programs of the Administration for Community Living, such as 
 the State Long-Term Care Ombudsman programs, which protect the health 
 and safety of individuals living in long-term care facilities, will be 
 eliminated, and other programs will be scattered across agencies that do 
 not focus specifically on aging and disabilities;
Whereas staff at numerous Freedom of Information Act offices at the Department 
 have been eliminated, eroding the American people's ability to 
 instrumentalize their right to government transparency and 
 accountability;
Whereas 23 States have initiated numerous lawsuits against both Robert F. 
 Kennedy Jr. in his official capacity as the Secretary of Health and 
 Human Services and the Department of Health and Human Services, 
 underscoring the illegality of the Secretary's actions, and the ways in 
 which both the Secretary and the Department are undermining public 
 health;
Whereas leading health research organizations and individual researchers have 
 filed a lawsuit against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in his official capacity 
 as the Secretary of Health and Human Services for breaching his 
 statutory authority under subchapter II of chapter 5, and chapter 7, of 
 title 5, United States Code (commonly known as the ``Administrative 
 Procedure Act'') by acting contrary to congressional mandates requiring 
 the National Institutes of Health to promote health equity and address 
 health disparities;
Whereas 20 States filed a lawsuit against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in his official 
 capacity as the Secretary of Health and Human Services for his arbitrary 
 and capricious directive to conduct an abrupt reduction in force and 
 reorganization of the Department, which violates the Appropriations 
 Clause of 

section 9 of article I of the Constitution of the United 
 States and the constitutional doctrine of separation of powers;
Whereas the Secretary's illegal termination of National Institutes of Health 
 research grants and the subsequent termination of Federal employees 
 working at Federal health agencies, as well as the elimination of a 
 number of Centers of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and 
 Institutes of the National Institutes of Health will undermine efforts 
 to combat chronic disease;
Whereas the Secretary eliminated staff at the National Institute of Allergy and 
 Infectious Diseases, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders 
 and Stroke, the National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and 
 Health Promotion, the National Center for HIV, Viral Hepatitis, STD, and 
 Tuberculosis Prevention, the National Institute for Occupational Safety 
 and Health, the National Center for Environmental Health, and the 
 National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, among 
 others;
Whereas these actions will stifle efforts to research, prevent, and treat 
 Americans living with Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, epilepsy, asthma, 
 blood disorders, and many other chronic conditions;
Whereas it was reported that in order to secure support for his nomination from 
 certain Republican Senators, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. committed that, as 
 Secretary, he would maintain the Advisory Committee on Immunization 
 Practices, the critical vaccine panel that advises the Centers for 
 Disease Control and Prevention on how to use vaccines to control disease 
 in the United States;
Whereas immediately after making that promise, the Secretary went back on his 
 word, abruptly cancelling the February meeting of the Advisory Committee 
 on Immunization Practices, and suggesting that he was preparing to 
 remove experts from the committee;
Whereas the Secretary continued to breed distrust in our scientific institutions 
 by saying in his Senate testimony and maiden speech as Secretary that 
 ``we will remove conflicts of interest from the committees and research 
 partners'', alleging without evidence that Federal vaccine advisers are 
 not acting in the best interest of public health and safety;
Whereas in his first speech as Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. vowed to 
 investigate the scientifically supported childhood vaccine schedule, 
 saying ``nothing is going to be off limits'';
Whereas the Secretary subsequently pushed out esteemed career civil servants, 
 including Dr. Peter Marks, the Director of the Center for Biologics 
 Evaluation and Research at the Food and Drug Administration, the 
 regulator responsible for ensuring the safety and effectiveness of 
 vaccinations;
Whereas in his resignation letter, Dr. Marks cast a light on the Secretary's 
 political interference and misinformation that was undermining the work 
 of the Food and Drug Administration, stating, ``it has become clear that 
 truth and transparency are not desired by the Secretary, but rather he 
 wishes subservient confirmation of his misinformation and lies'';
Whereas, in his answers to questions for the record following his nomination 
 hearing before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 
 of the Senate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote, ``I will do nothing as HHS 
 Secretary that makes it difficult or discourages people from taking 
 vaccines but instead seek transparency in these products'';
Whereas the Secretary has instead used his position to continue to discredit the 
 science behind vaccines, stoke fear about the efficacy and safety of 
 vaccines, and dismantle vaccine approval and education programs;
Whereas the National Institutes of Health halted funding for at least 40 
 research grants for projects studying vaccine hesitancy and paths to 
 overcome it;
Whereas the National Institutes of Health cancelled funding for studies seeking 
 new vaccines and treatments for both COVID-19 and other pathogens that 
 may cause future pandemics, requested project lists regarding mRNA 
 vaccines, the technology at the center of COVID-19 vaccinations, and 
 have been urging scientists to remove references to such technology from 
 their grant applications, raising fears that projects relating to mRNA 
 vaccines are next on the chopping block;
Whereas after the Food and Drug Administration delayed granting a license to a 
 COVID-19 vaccine in April, the Secretary falsely declared that ``for 
 respiratory illnesses, the single antigen vaccines have never worked'';
Whereas through the Secretary's reduction in force and reorganization efforts, 
 the Department has eliminated entirely or reduced the functionality of 
 the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee, the 
 National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and the Division 
 of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases;
Whereas, during the Secretary's first week on the job, the Centers for Disease 
 Control and Prevention announced that it was stopping a flu vaccination 
 advertising campaign during the height of flu season;
Whereas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, a multi-
 State measles outbreak impacting communities with low measles 
 vaccination coverage in New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas has been raging 
 during the Secretary's tenure, with the number of reported cases already 
 through mid-April representing an 180 percent increase over the entirety 
 of reported measles cases in the past year;
Whereas 96 percent of these patients have been unvaccinated or had unknown 
 vaccination status;
Whereas this measles outbreak has resulted in 727 hospitalizations and 3 deaths, 
 including 2 unvaccinated school-aged children with no known underlying 
 medical conditions;
Whereas, while measles was declared eliminated in 2000, largely due to the 
 Measles, Mumps and Rubella vaccine (referred to in this preamble as the 
 ``MMR vaccine'') being 97 percent effective in preventing measles, this 
 outbreak under the Secretary's watch represents the largest single 
 measles outbreak in 25 years;
Whereas instead of vocal support for the MMR vaccine, the Secretary has uplifted 
 untested treatments like cod liver supplements, vitamin A treatments, 
 the antibiotic clarithromycin, or the asthma steroid budensonide;
Whereas, on May 2, 2025, the Secretary directed Federal health agencies to 
 explore potential new treatments for measles, including vitamin A 
 treatments;
Whereas vaccine safety experts at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 
 and the American Academy of Pediatrics have found no conclusive link 
 between autism and vaccines that contain thimerosal as a preservative, 
 yet the Secretary has used inconsistent and often contradictory 
 messaging around the MMR vaccine, questioning the MMR vaccine's safety 
 by incorrectly saying ``we don't know the risks of many of these 
 products because they're not safety tested,'' ignoring the decades of 
 scientific research behind the vaccine proving that the vaccine is safe, 
 and routinely misrepresenting the potential for adverse events from the 
 vaccine, sowing fear in the public about vaccine use;
Whereas the Secretary has downplayed the deaths associated with the measles 
 outbreak, saying that more attention should be paid towards chronic 
 diseases like diabetes and autism, while at the same time falsely 
 claiming that there may be a relationship between the MMR vaccine and 
 autism;
Whereas, on April 30, 2025, the Secretary made the false claim that the MMR 
 vaccine contains ``aborted fetus debris'', further perpetuating fears 
 and stigma about the vaccine;
Whereas this is only the latest in a series of mistruths regarding the MMR 
 vaccine that the Secretary has used his bully pulpit and position of 
 leadership as the Secretary to promote;
Whereas, in his answers to questions for the record following his nomination 
 hearing before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 
 of the Senate, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote, ``addressing maternal 
 mortality, and its underlying causes, will be a priority in my 
 leadership of HHS'', yet as the Secretary, he has decimated Department 
 divisions and offices responsible for protecting the health of women and 
 their babies;
Whereas the Secretary's illegal reorganization and unlawful mass firings at the 
 Department have devastated the Centers for Disease Control and 
 Prevention's Assisted Reproductive Technologies office (which focuses on 
 infertility and in vitro fertilization research), Division of 
 Reproductive Health, Women's Health and Fertility branch, and Office of 
 Women's Health, and the Health Resources and Services Administration's 
 Maternal and Child Health Bureau;
Whereas the Secretary has made a series of offensive and scientifically 
 unfounded statements about autism, perpetuating harmful stereotypes, 
 disregarding decades of scientific research and consensus, threatening 
 public trust in lifesaving immunization programs, undermining the 
 dignity of individuals with autism, and denying individuals with 
 disabilities the services they are entitled to;
Whereas, in April 2025, the Secretary made crude, misleading, and ableist 
 comments about individuals on the autism spectrum, offensively and 
 incorrectly stating that they ``will never pay taxes, they'll never hold 
 a job, they'll never play baseball, they'll never write a poem, they'll 
 never go on a date'';
Whereas reports have surfaced that the Secretary has directed the National 
 Institutes of Health to launch an ``autism registry'' to track Americans 
 with the disability, likely in violation of Federal privacy laws;
Whereas the Secretary has hired discredited vaccine skeptic David Geier as a 
 data analyst to examine the long-debunked and harmful theory that links 
 vaccines to autism, continuing to distort the public understanding of 
 autism;
Whereas, during his confirmation hearing before the Committee on Health, 
 Education, Labor, and Pensions of the Senate, Senator Hassan summarized 
 the danger of Robert F. Kennedy's words and actions best: ``The problem 
 with this witness' response on the autism cause, and the relationship to 
 vaccines, is because he is re-litigating and churning settled science, 
 so we cannot go forward and find out what the cause of autism is, and 
 treat these kids, and help these families.'';
Whereas leading national autism organizations released a joint statement in 
 April 2025 on the importance of upholding scientific integrity with 
 evidence-based research and investments in diverse supports for the 
 autism community, rejecting Robert F. Kennedy's rhetoric that ``autism 
 is preventable'', his framing of autism as a ``chronic disease'', 
 ``childhood disease'', or ``epidemic'', and his perpetuation of the myth 
 that vaccines cause autism;
Whereas, on April 7, 2025, the Secretary announced that he will direct the 
 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to stop recommending 
 fluoridation in public drinking water across the country and eliminated 
 the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's entire Division of Oral 
 Health as part of its reorganization efforts;
Whereas rolling back the fluoride guidance would contradict the guidance of 
 scientists, dentists, and national health organizations, including the 
 American Academy of Pediatrics and the American Dental Association, 
 which maintain that community water fluoridation is a proven method of 
 preventing dental decay;
Whereas the American Dental Association has reiterated its support of the 
 ``credible, time-tested, evidence-based science'' behind the 
 recommendation, and has criticized the Secretary's work to discredit 
 science, saying that ``when government officials, like Secretary 
 Kennedy, stand behind the commentary of misinformation and distrust 
 peer-reviewed research it is injurious to public health'';
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recognize community water 
 fluoridation as one of the top 10 public health interventions of the 
 20th century;
Whereas, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, dental 
 caries is the most common childhood chronic disease in the United States 
 and worldwide and disproportionately affects vulnerable children of 
 lower incomes, children of color, and children that live in underserved 
 areas;
Whereas the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Division of Oral Health 
 provides evidence-based guidance on critical public health issues 
 ranging from infection control in dental practices, community water 
 fluoridation, and dental sealant programs targeted at preventing tooth 
 decay in children;
Whereas, in just a few months in his role as the Secretary of Health and Human 
 Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has demonstrated a pattern of deception, 
 perpetuating erroneous and even dangerous statements that have eroded 
 public trust in the Department, Federal health agencies, and scientific 
 research;
Whereas Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been negligent towards his statutory duty to 
 provide for and enhance the health and well-being of all Americans, 
 taking actions that have dismantled our public health system, defying 
 the many statutes that govern the Department's programs and appropriate 
 funding for the Department to administer such programs, and 
 intentionally undercutting the will of Congress; and
Whereas the role of the Secretary of Health and Human Services is to be a 
 trusted leader and an authority on science and evidence-based health 
 policies for the American public: Now, therefore, be it
 Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that Secretary Robert 
Fitzgerald Kennedy Jr. no longer holds the confidence of the Senate or 
of the American people to faithfully carry out his duties as Secretary 
of Health and Human Services.
 <all>