His Big Bamboozle Bill cut a trillion dollars from healthcare, and hundreds of billions from research - cancer, diabetes, heart disease, birth anomalies, environmental risks, food and drug safety, perinatal care, Alzheimer's, and and and.
The ignorant pricks in Trump's White House, and the gutless fucks on Capitol Hill stand by doing nothing while childhood diseases are given a chance to kill kids - and adults - because of BKjr's unbelievably stupid conspiracy fantasies.
This shit hits home for all of us in one way or another. We're all no more than a couple of degrees separated from someone who has, or will have, some kind of cancer. Biden committed us to a moon-shot-level effort to find a cure for cancer, and Trump gutted it - because (IMO) it was Biden's thing.
This is going to get worse for quite a while, and the time we spend letting it get worse, will be orders of magnitude less than the time we'll have to spend trying to get back to where we were a lousy six months ago.
Trump's legacy is Cruelty, Immiseration, and Death.
This is going to get worse for quite a while, and the time we spend letting it get worse, will be orders of magnitude less than the time we'll have to spend trying to get back to where we were a lousy six months ago.
Trump's legacy is Cruelty, Immiseration, and Death.
Takeaways from fired CDC director’s Senate testimony
Susan Monarez told the Senate health committee that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pressured her to back changes to the childhood vaccine schedule.
Susan Monarez, who was fired last month as director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told senators Wednesday that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pressured her to support changes to the childhood vaccine schedule, subverting the agency’s scientific expertise and endangering public health.
The former CDC chief who served in the position for only 29 days, told the Senate’s health committee that Kennedy told her that “he spoke to the president every day about changing the childhood vaccine schedule” and that she “needed to be on board” with coming changes in September. The recommendations from the CDC call for administering multiple vaccines at key milestones, and potential changes to the schedule have alarmed major medical associations who worry the nation’s vaccine infrastructure may crack.
Monarez’s testimony on Capitol Hill marks her first public appearance since the White House fired her in late August. She told the panel she was fired for “holding the line on scientific integrity,” citing concerns about her ability to continue leading the agency while “preserving evidence-based decision-making.”
Throughout the hearing, some senators critical of Kennedy, who has an extensive history of anti-vaccine advocacy, sought to highlight what they believe is at stake: the potential for infectious diseases to reemerge and erosion of trust in public health. Some Republican senators allied with Kennedy pressed Monarez on the details of her meetings with Kennedy, casting her as out of step with the Trump administration and suggesting she was not trustworthy.
Monarez and her lawyers have accused Kennedy of pressuring her to rubber-stamp his vaccine policies and fire vaccine scientists. In a Senate hearing earlier this month, Kennedy told lawmakers he asked Monarez to resign because she admitted she was not “trustworthy,” while conceding that he asked her to fire senior staff.
Andrew Nixon, an HHS spokesman, pushed back against Monarez’s testimony, alleging her remarks have “factual inaccuracies” and “leave out important details.” On X, the official HHS account highlighted testimony from Republican senators who were critical of Monarez during the hearing
“Here’s the reality: Susan Monarez was tasked with returning the CDC to its core mission after decades of bureaucratic inertia, politicized science and mission creep corroded its purpose and squandered public trust,” Nixon said in a statement. “Instead, she acted maliciously to undermine the President’s agenda and was fired as a result.”
Here are takeaways from the hearing:
Monarez alleged political interference
Monarez told senators that Kennedy demanded on Aug. 25 that she commit in advance to approving every recommendation from an influential vaccine advisory panel.
Kennedy recently purged the panel and replaced it with his handpicked members, many of whom have criticized coronavirus vaccine policy. Kennedy also directed her to dismiss career officials responsible for vaccine policy, she said, and to work with political appointees he had put in place at CDC instead of career scientists.
“I had refused to commit to approving vaccine recommendations without evidence, fire career officials without cause, or resign — and I had shared my concerns with this committee,” Monarez said. “I told the secretary that if he believed he could not trust me, he could fire me.”
Monarez also alleged that Kennedy said that agency employees were “killing children, and they don’t care.”
Before Monarez’s ouster, a top aide to Kennedy had informed her that all major CDC policy decisions needed prior political approval.
“I wanted to elevate the absolute need for political review of major policy decisions at CDC,” HHS Chief of Staff Matthew Buckham wrote in an Aug. 19 email, which was obtained and first reported by The Washington Post and highlighted by senators in the hearing. He added that Kennedy’s office and CDC political leadership should “have eyes on the decisions for approval/changes before they go into effect.”
Nixon, the HHS spokesman, said the process Buckham described “is nothing new.”
“As with all federal agencies, major policy and staffing decisions must go through established clearance channels,” he said in a statement. “Susan Monarez bypassed this established process, which is unacceptable.”
Childhood vaccine schedule in the spotlight
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), the health committee’s chair, asked Monarez whether Kennedy ever discussed the childhood vaccine schedule.
During her testimony, Monarez said that Kennedy told her the schedule would be changing as of September — and that she “needed to be on board with it.” An influential vaccine advisory panel is set to meet Thursday and Friday to potentially vote on recommendations for hepatitis B administered to infants after birth and coronavirus vaccines.
Monarez also said Kennedy asked her speak to Aaron Siri, a lawyer for a top anti-vaccine organization and an ally to Kennedy. Siri previously petitioned the government to reconsider its approval of one of the polio vaccines.
In his confirmation hearings, Kennedy told senators “I support the childhood schedule,” but since he assumed the top health post, he has taken steps to revisit it. Public health experts have credited that schedule for reducing the spread of vaccine-preventable diseases and saving lives, while Kennedy and his allies have countered that it imposes too many shots on young children.
RFK Jr.'s showdown with the Senate
The health and human services secretary is facing fire from both sides of the aisle. Plus, red and blue states are splintering on vaccine policy.
Some of Kennedy’s allies on the panel, such as Sens. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) and Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), pressed Monarez on whether children receive too many shots. She said she was open to discussing the science but also defended the evidence around the schedule.
“The data associated with those recommendations has been validated and vetted, and that is the current schedule,” Monarez said in a response to questioning from Marshall.
Nixon, the HHS spokesman, said the agency will not restrict access to vaccines.
“We are simply restoring the doctor-patient relationship,” Nixon said. “Anyone can get a vaccine in consultation with their healthcare provider.”
The White House defended the administration’s vaccine plans, citing its recent MAHA Strategy Report that called for developing “the best” childhood vaccine recommendations in the world.
“No one, including Secretary Kennedy and President Trump, is calling to throw out the entire childhood vaccine schedule or eliminate access to lifesaving vaccines,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. “Anyone suggesting that such actions are even on the table does not know what they are talking about.”
Ahead of a key vaccine meeting, hepatitis B vaccine gets airtime
Senators of both parties repeatedly brought up the hepatitis B vaccine ahead of a Thursday meeting of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices to reconsider the long-standing recommendation to provide the vaccine at birth. Such a move would mark the first major shift on a routine childhood immunization under Kennedy.
Democrats and Cassidy blasted the effort, arguing it could reverse progress to curtail a serious liver infection.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) pressed Monarez on why newborns receive the shot — skepticism that Kennedy and his allies have echoed, arguing most children are not at risk.
“I was open to the science,” Monarez responded. “I just would not pre-commit to approving all the ACIP recommendations without the science.”
Cassidy, a gastroenterologist and liver specialist, gave a forceful defense of the hepatitis B vaccine in his closing remarks. He said the number of babies who get infected with hepatitis B has been substantially reduced since they began receiving the shot.
“That is an accomplishment to make America healthy again,” Cassidy said in reference to Kennedy’s MAHA movement to address chronic disease and childhood illness. “And we should stand up and salute the people that made that decision, because there’s people who would otherwise be dead if those mothers were not given that option to have their child vaccinated.”
Former top CDC career scientist said Kennedy bypassed scientific process
Earlier this year, Kennedy directed the CDC to no longer recommend the coronavirus vaccine for healthy pregnant women and healthy children. Debra Houry, the CDC’s former chief medical officer who resigned after Monarez’s ouster, said she learned of this from Kennedy’s X post announcing the move.
“After the tweet came out, we asked for a written memo from HHS because I couldn’t implement guidance off of a tweet,” Houry said.
Cassidy frames approach as ‘radical transparency’
Cassidy, who openly wrestled with whether to support Kennedy’s confirmation before voting for the nominee, said he invited Monarez to testify as a “direct response” to President Donald Trump’s call for “radical transparency” into how the government functions. Monarez said she was instructed not to speak directly to senators.
Cassidy is up for reelection next year and has had to weigh flexing his oversight power against a desire to remain in Trump’s good graces. He said he was inviting HHS officials, including Kennedy, to speak with the panel to rebutany remarks at Wednesday’s hearing.
“I don’t prejudge. I don’t know if you’re telling the truth or not. And when Secretary Kennedy comes, I’m keeping an open mind. Let me just say that,” Cassidy said in his closing remarks.
Republican senators allied with Kennedy rushed to his defense.
“Ma’am, all we’re looking for is you to be honest. And you haven’t been,” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) said. GOP senators also focused on Monarez’s decision to retain legal counsel, including an extended exchange with Sen. Ashley Moody (R-Florida) when Monarez balked at naming her lawyers Mark S. Zaid and Abbe Lowell. Zaid is a critic of Trump, while Lowell has counted members of Trump’s orbit such as Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump among his high-profile Washington clients.
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