STAT+: GOP embraces MAHA at RFK Jr.’s first House hearing, but raises dissents from dental health to food dye reform
GOP lawmakers tested the limits of how far they could push Kennedy without appearing to undermine him or his MAHA movement.
WASHINGTON — Republicans on Capitol Hill delivered different versions of a similar message to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. at a Wednesday budget hearing: We love the Make America Healthy Again agenda …. but.
Throughout the hearing, GOP lawmakers lauded President Trump’s agenda and Kennedy’s actions in his first months as health secretary. But time and time again, they cautiously waded into areas of controversy, testing the limits of how far they could push Kennedy without appearing to undermine him or the broader MAHA movement. It was Kennedy’s first appearance before the House as Health and Human Services Department secretary.
The hearing represented a striking case study in Republicans’ willingness to push back against aspects of Kennedy’s agenda. Broadly, however, their quibbles focused on peripheral issues — not the proposed HHS budget cuts and reorganization, mass firings of HHS employees, or long-running controversy regarding Kennedy’s stance on vaccines that Democrats focused on.
