US Health Secretary Kennedy to testify before Senate panel May 14

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will testify before the U.S. Senate’s health committee on May 14, the panel said on Friday, more than a month after its Republican chairman called him to speak amid dramatic changes at the department he oversees.

Kennedy had been expected to appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee in an April hearing to discuss the firing of 10,000 people from the Department of Health and Human Services, and other structural changes at its regulatory agencies.

The hearing was called off over a procedural issue and Kennedy embarked on a multi-stop U.S. tour, including a visit with a Texas family whose 8-year-old child had died after being infected with measles.

At the hearing later this month, Kennedy is set to discuss President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for the 2026 fiscal year, the Republican-led committee said in a statement.

The White House’s proposal, released on Friday, calls on Congress to slash domestic spending, including drastic cuts to the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which are both part of Kennedy’s HHS department.

Kennedy’s scheduled testimony comes amid rising concerns about U.S. measles and bird flu outbreaks, as well as other issues.

Kennedy, an anti-vaccine advocate who has said vaccination is a personal choice, has spread misleading claims about the measles shots and alternative treatments, even as he said last month that vaccines are the best protection against the highly contagious and potentially deadly disease.

(Reporting by Susan HeaveyEditing by Bill Berkrot)