RFK Jr. To testify before the Parliament, the Senate Committee in the middle of layoffs, improvements at HHS

Secretary of Health and Humanitarian Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will testify before two congress committees on Wednesday to discuss, among many topics, Trump’s government proposed budget and its impact on HHS.

Kennedy will appear before the DPR Allocation Committee Wednesday morning and the Health Committee of the Senate, Education, Labor, and Pension (Assistance) Committee in the afternoon.

Last month, the assistance committee calling Kennedy to testify about the restructuring of the department.

In April, HHS began to dismiss around 10,000 workers and consolidate 28 institutions and centers to 15 new divisions.

Including around 10,000 people who have gone over the past few months through early retirement or suspended resignation programs, all staff at HHS are estimated to fall from 82,000 to around 62,000 – or about a quarter of their workforce.

In a Video statement posted on x Before layoffs, Kennedy said that he planned to bring to the agency “a clear mission to radically improve the health of Americans and to improve the morale of the agency.”

Kennedy has maintained the cuts needed to eliminate the use of use in one of the largest departments in America, but he has attracted criticism because it stopped the people responsible for regulating the use of tobacco, monitoring lead exposure in children and diagnosing black lung diseases in miners.

The secretary himself did not seem to know about some of the cuts, told CBS News last month that he was “not familiar” with several pieces quoted by the outlet.

Wednesday will mark the first time Kennedy testified in front of the congress since the confirmation hearing at the end of January, and he might be forced to face the statements he made according to critics was evidence of a damaged promise.

Kennedy said several times during his trial in January that he supported the vaccine, although he refused to expressly say that the vaccine did not cause autism, although many studies showed no connection.

“I support the measles vaccine. I support the polio vaccine. I will not do anything as HHS secretary that makes it difficult or prevent people from taking one of the vaccines,” Kennedy said.

However, in March, HHS confirmed that the center of disease control and prevention will study whether the vaccine causes autism.

In addition, after a number of measles outbreaks that are taking place in the US and more than 1,000 cases so far this year, Kennedy has shared conflicting views on vaccines.

In a post on X on April 6, Kennedy said that “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles” is to receive measles, goiter, rubella (MMR) vaccine. However, in a post that night, he said more than 300 children had been treated with antibiotics and steroids, both of which were not recognized for treatment or medicine for measles.

The hug of Kennedy’s anti-vaccine idea almost endangered his confirmation in danger, because he faced resistance from the Senator of the Republic of Louisiana, Bill Cassidy, a doctor who heads the aid committee. Cassidy expressed concern about Kennedy’s view of the vaccine before finally choosing to move it through the confirmation process in February.

Cassidy said, at that time, that Kennedy assured him that he would not change the vaccine policy without “iron” scientific evidence. Senator added that Kennedy and Trump officials promised “close collaboration working relations that have never happened before” with the secretary.

At present, Cassidy does not believe Kennedy has violated the commitment he made to him, someone who is familiar with the thought of the senator told ABC News.

Men speak repeatedly per week and have maintained a productive relationship, three people with knowledge of their dynamics.

A HHS spokesman said Kennedy “maintains a professional and respectful relationship with the Cassidy Senator, which is based on a joint commitment for public health and proof -based policy making.”

Cassidy plans to tell Kennedy on Wednesday that the secretary can “straighten” about how HHS will “maintain his critical tasks and apply important changes to American health,” according to Cassidy’s statement, which was obtained by ABC News.

ABC News’ Cheyenne Haslett and Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.