Kennedy and Kennedy Obliterate Democrats' Take on HHS Funding With a Few Simple Questions

On Tuesday, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. faced down some interrogation from Senate Democrats who were upset at what they called funding cuts, particularly to the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and other HHS functions. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) was leading the charge.

Senator Tammy Baldwin (D-WI) led the charge, slamming Kennedy for a $3 billion drop in federally funded biomedical research compared to last year.

Kennedy stood his ground.

“We’re cutting waste, we’re cutting duplicative programs,” he said.

Still, Baldwin wouldn’t let up. She… pic.twitter.com/HPM3XAWEtj
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) May 20, 2025

The X post continues:

Still, Baldwin wouldn’t let up. She framed the loss of “3,200 fewer grants” as an attack on “life-saving programs.”
Kennedy hit back with a devastating stat.
“We spend 70% of the world’s biomedical research out of NIH. 70%. And we’re the sickest country in the world,” he said.
“We’ve had a 38% increase in our agency growth over the past four years,” he added. “That money has not been well spent.”
The exchange summed up a broader dynamic: Democrats trying to paint RFK Jr. as a villain, slashing life-saving science, while Kennedy pointed out that America’s health is declining because of how this money is being spent, not despite it.

But that's not the best bit. Next up was the wonderful Senator John Kennedy (R-LA), who proceeded to engage in a beat-down of Democratic talking points that registered on the Richter scale.

Then came Senator John Kennedy, and he dismantled the entire narrative with a few simple questions.

Before I break it down, you should really watch the full exchange for yourself. It’s nothing short of glorious. pic.twitter.com/3Z4mWtKz5l
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) May 20, 2025

Here's the initial exchange:

Senator Kennedy: How many employees were there at HHS when you took over?
HHS Secretary Kennedy: 82,000.
Senator Kennedy: How many do you have today?
HHS: 62,000.
Senator Kennedy: OK.
HHS: That's about the level it was in 2019, right before COVID.
Senator Kennedy: Is, is this the first time that an institution in America has ever downsized?
HHS: I don't think so. I think private and public institutions have.
Senator Kennedy: Microsoft just announced that they were going to reduce their workforce by 6,000 people. You think that will be the end of Microsoft?
HHS: Senator, we wouldn't have reduced anybody...
Senator Kennedy: You think that will be the end of Microsoft?
HHS: I don't think so, Senator.

But here's where the Democrat talking points took a real beating:

Then, the gloves came off.

Senator Kennedy argued the best way to increase medical research funding was to “stop the stealing.” He explained how universities misuse taxpayer dollars:

“Let’s suppose NIH gives a university $100 million for medical research. That university takes… pic.twitter.com/WmgdqKkMJf
— The Vigilant Fox 🦊 (@VigilantFox) May 20, 2025

Senator Kennedy: Do you hate medical research?
HHS: No, I think we need to lead the world in medical research in this country.
Senator Kennedy: In fact, isn't it true, Mr. Secretary, that you would like to see more money spent on medical research?
HHS: Obviously. I'm the secretary of this department and no secretary wants to see his budget cut.
Senator Kennedy: Well, one way of doing that, it seems to me, would be to stop some of the stealing. And let me tell you what I mean by that. Suppose NIH gives a university $100 million to research, for medical research, to research a cure. And that university takes $30 million of it, doesn't spend it on the research, they use it to subsidize the rest of their university. Is... does that show a commitment to medical research?
HHS: No, and I mentioned before the example of Stanford, which was taking 78 percent in indirect costs, and we don't know what they were spending it on.
Senator Kennedy: That's a theft, isn't it?
HHS: It's not a good way to spend federal money.
Senator Kennedy: In Louisiana, we call that stealing. We call that stealing.

In Alaska, we call it stealing, too.

RFK Jr. Goes Nuclear on Democrat Patty Murray After She Attempts to Use Cancer Patient to Virtue Signal

Here's the important takeaway from all this: These thefts, these abuses of federal funds, of taxpayers' money, these acts of fraud, are a systemic problem. This is in part what the DOGE was implemented to identify and eliminate, but this is a Pantagruelian task that would take generations; more importantly, it will take a fundamental transformation in the way we disburse federal money. Of course, the best way to do this would be to limit the federal government to its constitutionally-imposed limits, which would greatly reduce the scope of Washington's operations and the costs associated with them. That, however, doesn't look to be in the cards.

The best we may be able to manage is to try to slap down these wastes whenever we find them. Senator Kennedy and HHS Secretary Kennedy have certainly done so today, so the next question is this: What's being done about it?

The Democrat Party has never been less popular as voters reject its globalist agenda.

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