RFK Jr. hearing live updates: RFK Jr. to face grilling over CDC turmoil, vaccines

Senate Finance Committee ranking member Ron Wyden described the U.S. as being in "the midst of a health care calamity."

"Last week, most of the senior leadership at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were fired, or they resigned after refusing to bow to Robert Kennedy's unceasing crusade against vaccines," he said. "They're scared about who to trust, about their health care. Robert Kennedy and Donald Trump have done so much to feed that mistrust."

Wyden said Kennedy "is a witness who has lied."

Senate Finance Committee chairman Mike Crapo, a Republican, has kicked off Thursday's hearing, saying he expects a "spirited debate."

"President Trump and Secretary Kennedy have made a steadfast commitment to make America healthy again. Under this administration, HHS has placed patients at the center of the healthcare system, empowering them with the tools and information they need to create a healthier future," Crapo said.

After a week of fast-moving shakeups at the nation's health agency, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will come before the powerful Senate Finance Committee, which has oversight over his department, on Thursday for hours of questioning that is sure to center on his vaccine policy.

It comes a week after the Food and Drug Administration significantly narrowed access to the COVID-19 vaccine, a move that precipitated a public fallout and ousting of the newly installed director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Susan Monarez. Four top CDC officials also resigned in protest.

Thursday will be the first time Kennedy has faced questions from senators since May, when he testified before a Senate committee and a House committee, defending the massive cuts to the department's workforce carried out in April.
Kennedy is expected to tout the overhauls at HHS so far, which he has said are aimed at eliminating bloated bureaucracy and conflicts of interest at public health agencies that get in the way of "gold-standard science."

While Republicans like Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo will attempt to keep the focus on chronic disease and Kennedy's "Make America Healthy Again" agenda, Democrats and even some Republicans are expected to push Kennedy for answers on the FDA's latest change as well as an upcoming CDC meeting on vaccines, which could lead to more changes to the nation's vaccine policy.

Ousted CDC Director Susan Monarez said Thursday she was fired for putting "evidence above ideology and facts above fear."

In an op-ed published in the Wall Street Journal, Monarez also referred to a meeting she had with her boss, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., where he pressured her to resign or be fired, which ABC News previously reported.