Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faces intense scrutiny over the federal measles response as he testified before the House Ways and Means Committee on April 16, 2026, proposing a more than 12% cut to the Department of Health and Human Services budget. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention pulled back public health messaging supporting vaccination under his leadership, coinciding with declining vaccination rates and eroded measles protections that contributed to the 2025 death of a 6-year-old child in West Texas—a death RFK Jr. acknowledged could have been prevented with vaccination. While Republicans praised his focus on dietary reform and combating waste, critics highlighted his longtime anti-vaccine activism and questioned his credibility after he denied making controversial statements about Black children despite documented podcast comments from July 2024. The controversy intensifies as RFK Jr., a former Democrat from America's most famous political family, navigates seven budget hearings across congressional committees.
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