Overview
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who leads HHS, appears Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee in the morning and the HELP Committee in the afternoon to face questioning from Chair Bill Cassidy, the Republican who cast the key vote to confirm him last year.
- A federal judge in March blocked Kennedy’s January move to shrink the childhood vaccine schedule from 18 to 11 diseases and froze his new CDC vaccine-advisory picks, and the administration has not appealed the order.
- The blocked changes would have dropped routine protection for babies against hepatitis A and B, RSV, dengue, and two kinds of bacterial meningitis, prompting warnings from vaccine-law and public health experts.
- NBC News reports Kennedy approved new rules for the CDC advisory panel that could let him work around the injunction, a step critics say deepens uncertainty for doctors and parents who rely on stable guidance.
- Cassidy enters the hearings under party pressure as President Trump backs challenger Julia Letlow and the MAHA PAC pledges $1 million to her, while Democrats prepare sharp questions on vaccines and agency management after Kennedy told House lawmakers Tuesday he would not commit to follow recommendations from CDC nominee Erica Schwartz.