When Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. abruptly changed the childhood vaccine schedule without consulting outside advisers, he did not face lawmakers. He also declined to appear before Congress after the U.S. finished 2025 with the most measles cases in three decades and after the unprecedented decision to withhold $250 million in Medicaid funding from Minnesota.
Those actions, and other far-reaching shifts at the Department of Health and Human Services, prompted calls for oversight. This past week, lawmakers finally had extended access to Kennedy: he testified in seven hearings across multiple House and Senate committees and subcommittees. Though the official focus was HHS’s 2027 budget request, questioning has ranged from rural health and hospital drug-pricing policy to the new nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Kennedy concludes the hearing run with two consequential Senate sessions Wednesday: the Finance Committee and the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee. A key HELP member, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), supported Kennedy’s nomination last year and cast the tie-breaking committee vote to recommend him. Cassidy, a physician and vaccine proponent, said at the time he expected an “unprecedentedly close, collaborative working relationship,” including regular calls, input on HHS hiring, adherence to existing vaccine policy systems and quarterly HELP appearances if requested.
Much of that pledge has not materialized. Kennedy has not consistently testified before HELP despite Democratic demands, and he has implemented dramatic federal vaccine policy changes that Cassidy has publicly condemned. Tensions have spilled into the open: Kennedy-aligned allies have endorsed a challenger to Cassidy in his Republican primary, and a CDC webpage stating “Vaccines do not cause Autism” carries a footnote saying the language remains due to an agreement with Cassidy. Kennedy’s long-standing insinuations of a possible vaccine-autism link run counter to extensive research and major health organizations’ conclusions.
In hearings so far, Republicans have generally treated Kennedy kindly, while Democrats have pressed him on vaccine skepticism, maternal health outcomes and Affordable Care Act premium increases. Kennedy told the House Energy and Commerce Committee’s Health Subcommittee that the Trump administration had not told him to talk less publicly about vaccines and that he was unaware of Republican polling suggesting his vaccine stance is unpopular and potentially risky for the party ahead of midterms.
Kennedy’s standing with President Trump also looms over the sessions. Unlike the prior year, Kennedy and his priorities were not mentioned in this year’s State of the Union, and Trump has dismissed three Cabinet members in recent weeks. The hearings will test how much latitude Kennedy has to reshape HHS policy and how much congressional scrutiny his decisions will attract going forward.