17 Senate Democrats Hit HHS on FDA, Other Changes

Some 17 Senate Democrats have written to HHS secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. questioning many of his actions and decisions involving FDA and other health-related agencies that the senators say have “decimated our nation’s public health infrastructure and ability to quickly identify and respond to infectious disease outbreaks.” The 6/9 letter charges that under Kennedy’s leadership, the administration has fired and forced out thousands of employees across HHS and is at a 20% reduced capacity as compared to the beginning of the administration.

“These cuts span our most valuable public health agencies, including but not limited to 3,500 full-time employees at the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), 3,400 at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and 4,600 at the National Institutes of Health (NIH),” the senators write. “That’s nearly 20,000 public servants who have dedicated their lives and careers to conducting research to find treatments and cures for life-threatening diseases, monitoring and responding to public health threats, and ensuring the safety and effectiveness of medicines and vaccines. On top of this, the administration has terminated critical public health funding here at home while dismantling important public health infrastructure abroad. These cuts directly impact our ability to respond to, and address, global public health emergencies.”

The letter points out that several of the most important agencies needed to combat global health outbreaks don’t have Senate-approved permanent leaders, including FDA. In addition, it says, FDA has no principal deputy commissioner, and the chief of staff and the majority of Center directors are serving in an acting capacity.

The senators ask Kennedy to provide information on these questions/issues:

• the public health rationale for the administration departing from precedent by deciding to send Americans who have been exposed to Ebola to foreign nations rather than bringing them to the U.S.;
• why existing U.S. quarantine facilities are inadequate or incapable of serving current Ebola patients;
• the administration plan to observe and treat Americans abroad, given the Kenyan high court decision to bar the establishment of a field hospital there for Americans;
• a detailed plan of who at CDC is working on Ebola and how the agency will continue to respond;
• a list of all vacant leadership positions by agency across HHS and a detailed plan of how and when the vacancies will be filled; and
• a list of medical countermeasures identified by HHS that could potentially be used to protect against or as a treatment for the Bundibugyo ebolavirus.