During Tuesday’s Senate Finance Committee hearing, Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) spoke about staffing cuts in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
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00:00Thank you. Senator Cassidy. Thank you both. Thanks for your willingness to serve.
00:07Mr. O'Neill, there's been a lot of reorganization, but I'm told, and I only know what I'm told, not what I know,
00:19that there's been people whose positions they've been let go, but it's left a gap in the ability to provide service that is a gap.
00:33It wasn't like we had 100 people doing one job and we only needed two.
00:39It's like, no, we had five people doing a very important job.
00:43And it's been unclear to me who actually has the priority for this reorganization.
00:50So as we do reorganize, first, how do we replace those folks who, if it's true, first determine if it's true,
01:01and then if it is true, how do we replace those positions and how do we kind of avoid cutting the bone and marrow
01:10when we should be obviously focused on fat?
01:13Thank you. Thank you for the question, Senator.
01:16If I may, I really enjoyed our conversation a few weeks ago in your office.
01:20I really appreciate how you brought your experiences and learnings as a physician into your role as a senator.
01:27I really respect you for that.
01:30I'm also operating on limited information, obviously.
01:33But from what I can tell about the proposed reorganization of HHS,
01:37I think the secretary laid out some reasonable principles in his announcement speech.
01:44Namely, that the essential functions that HHS has, that the operating divisions have through statute,
01:51as well as custom, should be preserved.
01:53And that if there are two functions that make more sense to be conducted in the same agency or office,
02:00then that's a reasonable thing to aim towards.
02:05So combining relevant agencies, sorry, relevant functions into the same office makes logistical sense
02:15in terms of ensuring that a majority of all HHS resources are devoted to actually serving the functions
02:22that serve patients, beneficiaries, research entities, universities, grantees,
02:31and other entities that depend on HHS for inspections, regulations, funding, and like that.
02:36That's kind of a generic answer, and I don't mean to challenge, but you're so talented.
02:40It does seem as if we do have an issue of where, oh, we are, but I'm told.
02:47I don't know if it's true, and I'm trying to learn that.
02:50Critical functions are being not met.
02:56And you're on the outs, maybe you have a limited ability to do that,
03:00but I will say that if you are approved, that would be something that I think is important for our country to get right.
03:07We've discussed vaccinations, and you have mentioned your opposition to mandates.
03:12We've now, I think, had 19 kids die of flu.
03:16I saw a report yesterday when children typically have not died from flu.
03:20We've had two or three kids die in Louisiana of, I'm looking for the report right here,
03:28I think at Pertussis, which, like, kids haven't died from Pertussis forever.
03:33And then we know the kids dying of measles in West Texas.
03:41What can the department do to actually promote immunizations?
03:45We're having people die from vaccine-preventable diseases.
03:49And if you're opposed to, say, if you're going to go to school,
03:53then there would be a pre-matriculation requirement in order to enroll,
03:58then there has to be an alternative.
03:59There would have to be an aggressive promotion of immunizations.
04:02How would you approach that issue?
04:05Thank you for the question, Senator.
04:06As you know, I'm an advisor to a vaccine company.
04:09I'm very much in favor of vaccines.
04:11I think vaccines are one of the greatest public health interventions in human history.
04:16They've saved millions of lives.
04:18They will continue to save millions of lives.
04:20You mentioned Pertussis.
04:22I had the Pertussis vaccine, and later I contracted Pertussis.
04:25That doesn't mean that the vaccine is not a good thing to get.
04:28I think it is.
04:29And also probably your case was mitigated.
04:31People are confused to think that it's completely gone, but it can mitigate symptoms as well.
04:36But again, and I only have about 28 seconds.
04:38If you're against having a pre-matriculation requirement,
04:41what do we do to keep two more dead kids from happening in Texas?
04:45Or more kids from dying from flu or from Pertussis?
04:47Thank you, Senator.
04:49As I explained, if I were the principal of a school, I would require the CDC vaccinations.
04:56If I were the administrator of a hospital, I would require all workers to be fully vaccinated.
05:00There's a separate question of whether the federal government should be mandating these kind of...
05:04If the federal government puts out a recommendation that it should, those principals and those administrators are more likely to adopt?
05:12Agreed.
05:13And so would you agree or oppose such recommendations from the federal government?
05:18I support CDC's recommendations for vaccines.
05:22I think that's a central role that CDC has.
05:26It's mandated in law.
05:27It's also an important principle.
05:28They have a responsibility to recommend good, safe vaccines to everyone.
05:33Okay.
05:33I yield.