Kennedy faces congressional scrutiny as Trump health cuts ignite midterm debate

The health fight heading into the midterms centered on dollars and power, not just Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s combative style. Kennedy appeared on Capitol Hill for a House Ways and Means Committee hearing at 9 a.m. ET, the first of at least seven hearings in less than a week that will force Congress to confront the Trump administration’s fiscal 2027 plan for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

The budget request would cut HHS discretionary funding by more than 12%, or about $15.8 billion, leaving the department with about $111.1 billion. It also called for about $41 billion for the National Institutes of Health, roughly $5 billion below enacted fiscal 2026 levels, and would eliminate three NIH institutes: the National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities, the Fogarty International Center and the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. The White House plan also proposed creating an Administration for a Healthy America, a new umbrella agency meant to absorb functions from several existing offices.

Kennedy’s written testimony for the day’s hearings centered on nutrition and food safety, leaving out the most politically volatile parts of his agenda, including overhauling the vaccine schedule and his push to identify the causes of autism. That omission underscored a tactical shift after a court ruling last month derailed key elements of his effort to rewrite vaccine policy. It also fit a broader White House effort to steer health messaging toward topics with wider appeal as Republicans try to defend narrow congressional majorities.

The hearings were set to test how far Kennedy can carry Donald Trump’s health agenda without turning it into a liability. Democrats were expected to attack the effort to shrink federal health agencies and revisit vaccine policy, while Republicans such as Senate Health Committee Chair Bill Cassidy of Louisiana faced pressure over how aggressively to challenge him in an election year. The hearing run was also the first major public test of the White House’s theory that Kennedy can help, rather than hurt, the party in November.

Kennedy came to Capitol Hill after a first year at HHS marked by major workforce reductions and grant cancellations. In earlier budget testimony, he said HHS employment had fallen from 82,000 to 62,000 during his tenure. Congress then passed a February 3, 2026 funding law that rejected many of the administration’s earlier public-health restructuring plans, a signal that lawmakers were not ready to hand over the entire federal health apparatus.