During Wednesday's Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing, Sen. Maggie Hassan (D-NH) questioned Susan Monarez, President Trump's nominee to be the director of the Centers for Disease Control.
00:05Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I want to thank you, Doctor, for being here today, and congratulations
00:10on your nomination.
00:12I'm going to start with a straightforward question that I ask every nominee.
00:15If directed by the president to take action that would break the law, would you follow
00:19the law or follow the president's directive?
00:22The president would never ask me to break the law.
00:26And if a president did, would you follow the law or follow the directive?
00:29We'll always follow the law, and the president would never ask me to break the law.
00:33Well, I'd ask you to review recent facts and perhaps reflect on that answer.
00:39Let me move to a second question.
00:41Doctor, the CDC supports critical local work in New Hampshire to fight addiction and overdoses,
00:48including funding that helps prevent addiction in youth, as well as a grant that helps New
00:52Hampshire track overdose deaths.
00:54Doctor, if you're confirmed, can you commit to continuing these life-saving programs at
00:59the CDC?
01:00So, CDC is moving towards getting back to its core mission of preventing, detecting, and
01:05responding to infectious diseases and emerging threats.
01:09If I am confirmed as a CDC director, I will look into and make sure that we have effective
01:14continuity of these key public health activities as they transition to other parts of the organization.
01:19Well, I want to make sure that these services remain in place because they have been life-saving
01:25and critical not only to individuals but to our communities and, frankly, to our economy
01:31in terms of workforce.
01:32So, we will follow up with you on that.
01:35One critical role of the CDC director is to help protect children from lethal infectious diseases.
01:41The CDC director can't perform this critical role unless they are politically independent,
01:46which means that you must be willing to disagree with political leaders based on scientific evidence.
01:52So, is there anything that you disagree with Secretary Kennedy about?
01:58If I'm confirmed as CDC director, I look forward to having technical discussions with the secretary.
02:06He has said he values and prioritizes independent thinking and using science to drive decision-making.
02:13I am an independent thinker and I am a scientist and I will welcome the opportunity to share my opinions based on science and evidence with him as he makes some of these very difficult decisions.
02:26Is there anything you disagree with him about?
02:28So, look, if I'm confirmed as a CDC director, I look forward to supporting the secretary with science and evidence and making sure that I am giving him the best information possible
02:40to help support some of these critical decisions.
02:43Well, let's go to some specifics then.
02:44When you were acting director of the CDC, Secretary Kennedy stated, quote,
02:49it's very, very difficult for measles to kill a healthy person, close quote.
02:55Do you have any scientific concerns about Secretary Kennedy's statement?
02:59So, measles is an important public health threat and we have to make sure that we are doing everything that we can to prevent and mitigate the spread.
03:09Do you have any concerns about a statement?
03:11Didn't a child die from measles while you were acting CDC director?
03:15See, measles can be lethal.
03:17We know from historical data that in populations, unvaccinated populations, that one in a thousand.
03:28Right.
03:29So, excuse me for interrupting, but I have limited time.
03:32So, when the secretary said it's very, very difficult for measles to kill a healthy person, no concerns from you about that?
03:38So, look, we know that measles can be fatal in one in a thousand individuals.
03:44And, look, these are very critical issues that we need to be able to-
03:48Right.
03:49Which is why you're being able to independently state in public that you differ with the secretary is a really, really important thing.
03:56And, right now, you're showing a real reluctance to do this.
03:59What about when Secretary Kennedy said, again, while you were CDC acting director, that cod liver oil and vitamin A have, quote,
04:0887 percent effectiveness, close quote, for preventing death from measles.
04:13Do you agree with that from a scientific perspective?
04:15So, there are no FDA approved antivirals or aligned treatments for the measles.
04:27We do know that vitamin A has been approved by the WHO and has been supported by the American Academy of Pediatrics as an effective supportive therapy to-
04:38And so, where's the science that says it's 87 percent effective?
04:41So, I'm not familiar with that quote.
04:44I'm not familiar with the specific statistic.
04:47But, if I am confirmed as a CDC director, I'm happy to look into it and follow up with you.
04:51Well, for the record and with a request for unanimous consent, Mr. Chair, I have a copy of an article from the New York Times entitled,
05:02I feel like I've been lied to when a measles outbreak hits home from somebody who followed Secretary Kennedy's kind of alternative treatment theories in Texas,
05:12whose family got very, very, very ill, almost died because of measles.
05:18I am very concerned that a CDC nominee who says she wants to be independent and will apply science is so unwilling to speak publicly about scientific evidence that contradicts the Secretary.
Be the first to comment