Biography Flash RFK Jr Faces Senate Firestorm Over Medicaid Cuts and Measles Crisis

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has dominated Capitol Hill this week with a grueling blitz of seven budget hearings across congressional committees, his first appearances there since September, according to New Hampshire Public Radio and PBS NewsHour reports. Wrapping up Wednesday with back-to-back Senate clashes, RFK Jr. fiercely defended President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill Act against claims it slashes Medicaid by a trillion dollars over a decade, insisting to skeptical senators that there are no cuts and federal spending will rise through 2035, as detailed in YouTube coverage from those sessions. Rural hospital advocates, via the National Rural Health Association, warned of a 21 percent drop in reimbursements, sparking heated exchanges over closures in red states.

Democrats hammered him on the worst measles outbreak in decades, with over 2000 cases last year tied to falling kid vaccination rates, per CIDRAP and PBS transcripts. RFK Jr. took no blame, boasting his leadership handled it better than anywhere globally amid a worldwide surge, while dodging questions on his vaccine-skeptic appointees to the HHS advisory panel. Senator Bill Cassidy pressed on Trump's CDC nominee Dr. Erika Schwartz's independence; Kennedy affirmed she'd wield power over political staff undermining shots. Past podcast remarks resurfaced, like suggesting wellness farms to reparent black kids on Adderall, which he apologized for but claimed no memory of, drawing Republican applause for his Make America Healthy Again push on nutrition, PTSD drugs, and Alzheimer's.

Senators like Andy Kim grilled him on axing disability funding and 12 percent NIH cuts hitting mental health, women's programs, and HIV prevention, with ABC News noting Kennedy called NIH trims painful yet essential for cracking fraud. Critics like ex-CDC officer Dr. Deb Howry accused him of cherry-picking data to fit his agenda. No major social media buzz or public appearances outside hearings surfaced this week, but these showdowns underscore his biographical pivot as Trump's health czar reshaping U.S. medicine amid fierce partisan drama.

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