Greg Landsman Presses RFK Jr. Over Head Start Funding Flip Flop & Layoffs

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During a House Energy Committee hearing last week, Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH) asked Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. about funding cuts.

Transcript

00:00Recognizes a gentleman from Ohio, Representative Lansman, for five minutes of questioning.

00:05Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Mr. Secretary, for being here.

00:11You were talking earlier about maternal health, and I want to just come back to maternal health

00:15and the disparities that exist in this country, particularly between black moms and everyone else.

00:23There is a bipartisan effort that emerged from this committee before I got here.

00:33Mr. Carter and others supported the Safe Motherhood and Infant Health Program.

00:41Now, this is an effort at HHS that focuses entirely on best practices, collecting data,

00:48trying to figure out what's working in terms of maternal health to improve healthy birth outcomes, etc.

00:58I think, and I genuinely believe this was zeroed out either accidentally or by some sort of oversight,

01:07because obviously there's no waste, fraud, and abuse here.

01:10This is just the data collection associated with, obviously, a huge priority of yours, which is maternal health.

01:18So I, as we sort of go through this budget process, is this one area where you're willing to work with us

01:27to see if, in fact, we can restore funding for something that is saving the lives of mothers,

01:34helping to eliminate these disparities, and obviously improving birth outcomes across the country.

01:41A hundred percent, and I'd love to operate on a bipartisan basis.

01:45If you contact my office, I'm happy to meet with you about it.

01:48This is a program that came out of this committee.

01:51I don't know if it was unanimous, Mr. Carter, Mr. Chairman.

01:54I suspect it was, but it got zeroed out, so maybe we, okay.

01:58Number two, Head Start, because we're just on the trajectory, healthy birth outcome,

02:04you know, brain development is happening at its fastest rate in those early years.

02:11And then we get Head Start, which has been a game changer for millions, tens of millions,

02:17something that your family has led on.

02:20It got zeroed out, but then the money got restored, which was good.

02:24And I'm just hoping that you can sort of assure everyone,

02:30because I'm getting calls on a regular basis from folks back home

02:35that they aren't sure if this is going to stick,

02:37if their Head Start funding is going to get pulled,

02:39and what that's going to mean for families and for children.

02:44Head Start funding is okay.

02:45That's not going to get touched.

02:47Yeah.

02:47I mean, my uncle, Sarge Revers, started Head Start.

02:51It takes care of 750,000 of the poorest kids in America.

02:56It not only takes care of those children and teaches them basic fundamental skills,

03:01but it also trains their parents on parenting skills.

03:04And the metrics for kids who graduate from those programs,

03:07and, you know, every metric, every indicia are better.

03:13I'm very grateful to Roosevelt and OMB for meeting with me about that

03:20and then restoring the funding, and I will continue to protect that funding.

03:25Last one, NIOSH.

03:27I have a NIOSH office or facility in Cincinnati, one of the largest.

03:34As you know, NIOSH focuses entirely on worker safety.

03:37That's what they do.

03:38And we were able to work together to restore about 300 positions,

03:45mostly as it relates to the firefighters and minors.

03:47There are still, you know, I don't know, I guess 1,000 to 1,200 positions

03:52that are on the chopping block.

03:54Are you willing to sort of reconsider or work with us on the remaining positions at NIOSH,

04:01recognizing that some of the 10,000 FTs were over, it was a mistake, right,

04:06including the ones that were working on the National Firefighter Registry for Cancer,

04:12the World Trade Center, health program, those kinds of things.

04:14The other folks at NIOSH in Cincinnati are doing exceptional work to keep workers safe.

04:21Are you willing to work with us on protecting those jobs too?

04:26Absolutely.

04:26And if Congress funds it, I will, you know, I'll keep the program open.

04:33So.

04:35Well, Congress did fund it.

04:37I mean, this, so it was funded.

04:40This time around.

04:42Yeah.

04:42So those jobs hopefully will get restored or some of them.

04:46I'm happy to meet with you about that.

04:48All right.

04:48I have a few things to add to the record.

04:53I also would like to work on some of the rare disease stuff,

04:57but I'll include that in my, what I submit.

05:01Thank you, Congressman.

05:03The gentleman.

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