Ida (00:00):
… It's 'cause it's so short-staffed and nurses are trying to run in between patients, we aren't able to give you our best quality care. We are all impacted by the gaps of the healthcare system, whether we realize it or not. These programs cover elderly, vulnerable, and our children and it is how it is now. If it is like this now, can you imagine where I was going to be in four years? RFK Jr. knows that he's wrong. He is going against everything that his father and uncle and the Kennedy family stands for-
Crowd (00:43):
Right.
Ida (00:49):
… his father who cared so deeply for child poverty and our country's working poor instead of spreading false information, trying to make it harder for people to assess and keep healthcare. I don't know how he sleeps at night, I really don't. We can stop him though. We can stop him and Trump. If we come together, seeing all of y'all here today, I am so energized to keep working towards a better future for all of us. So thank you and let's keep fighting.
Crowd (01:25):
Whoo.
Speaker 1 (01:36):
Thank you so much. Thank you, Ida and thank you SEIU1199 represented here today with Jibran, who is representing them as well and I want to recognize one other person who's standing with me. His name is Andrew Friedson. Some of you may know him as a county council member for this district, but I know him for something else too. 19 years ago, Andrew Friedson was a bone marrow donor and the person he gave his bone marrow to, he learned about a year later, he had never known that person and that person has been able to live a successful and healthy 18 years so far. And so, it's great that he is here with us and he's going to say a few words right now. Thanks.
Crowd (02:49):
Yay.
Andrew Friedson (02:49):
Well, thank you so much for being here. I'm privileged and honored to be the council member on the Montgomery County Council, representing the most respected, the most important public health medical research institution on the planet, the National Institutes of Health. It is completely unacceptable that we are walking away from the single most important research, the single most important place where families to this day bring their children, bring their loved ones, bring their parents, bring their siblings to get care. We believe in science. We believe in vaccines. We believe in spreading vaccines that save peoples' lives, not in spreading the diseases that kill people, that take peoples' lives, that rob families of their loved ones.
(03:59)
Thank you to all of our medical researchers. Thank you to all of our public servants. Thank you to each and every one of you. I am proud to be your neighbor. I am proud to be somebody who gets to represent this extraordinary institution that does life-saving, life-changing, life-improving work each and every day, and all of us will stand here and stand up for you because you are supporting and saving the lives of Americans and of people across the world with the work that you do each and every day. We are with you. We'll continue to be with you. We will fight back because we are sick of it. We are sick of it.
Crowd (04:54):
We are sick of it. We are sick of it. We are sick of it. We are sick of it.
Speaker 1 (04:54):
Right.
Crowd (04:54):
We are sick of it. We are sick of it. We are sick of it.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Okay. Thank you, Andrew, and thank you all because you know the drill now. We're sick of it.
Crowd (05:13):
We're sick of it.
Speaker 1 (05:13):
We are sick of it.
(05:14)
Next up, we are going to hear from Ruth Martin. Ruth is a local mom. She's also the Senior Vice President of MomsRising. She has two daughters and she understands, like we all do, how dangerous it is for our families, for our children, and for our mothers this holiday weekend. Ruth.
Ruth Martin (05:40):
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you all for being here today. It really fills my heart with joy. I am Ruth Martin, Senior Vice president of MomsRising, a million-member online and on-the-ground organization working to improve our and our family's economic security and create a world where we can stop discrimination against women and moms. And this is a Mother's Day weekend like none other. There is nothing more important to moms like me in Maryland and across the country than a healthcare system that protects our children and families by providing information that we can trust, care we can count on, medications that we can afford, and coverage that meets our needs. We had a federal healthcare system that we could trust for most of my life, maybe we even took it for granted.
(06:35)
We okay? Do we need a medic? Okay. Okay. She's good, she's good. We've got a lot of healthcare professionals here, so that's good. Thank you. Yes.
(06:56)
Unfortunately, as an insult to our entire healthcare profession, we have President Trump nominating and then the Senate confirming a grossly unqualified, untrustworthy appointee to lead one of our most important institutions. He is a fringe conspiracy theorist with no medical or scientific credentials who has made a career out of trafficking in dangerous misinformation, [inaudible 00:07:40] voting for him and standing very strong. Thank you very, very much. He's a true champion for Maryland and the entire country and Senator Alsobrooks. He is the proverbial fox who is put in charge of the henhouse and the henhouse is our health. We have the worst measles outbreak our country has seen in 25 years, and it has killed three people, two of them children, and it is sickening thousands more. And as it continues to rage, instead of putting the full weight of the federal government behind vaccines, which we know work, he is instead pursuing alternative treatments that we know do not work and get more children sick.
Crowd (08:26):
Shame.
Ruth Martin (08:27):
Secretary Kennedy has put the National Institutes of Health under siege. Once considered the crown jewel of US Science, he has fired about 2,500 people, cut disbursements to outside researchers. He's canceled more than 800 grants on HIV research, transgender health, vaccine hesitancy and more. One researcher who worked there said that as bad as everyone on the outside thinks it is, it's a million times worse inside, they're dismantling and destroying everything.
Crowd (08:58):
Shame, shame.
Ruth Martin (09:04):
We also have deep, deep concern this Mother's Day weekend to know that Senator Kennedy is planning to furlough and fire pregnancy risk assessment monitoring system teams. You all know that we're in the midst of a devastating crisis, a maternal health crisis that is especially harming black and indigenous women. We cannot afford to make cuts. The world's leading medical researchers are quitting government jobs because they recognize that in case after case, Secretary Kennedy is stacking the deck by demanding studies to be conducted in ways that are unscientific, biased and will lead to support on his wacky, dangerous conspiracy theories.
Crowd (09:50):
Boo, boo.
Ruth Martin (09:50):
It is horrifying and the consequences for our health and our children's health are grim. And at the same time that Secretary Kennedy is undermining our most important health agencies, President Trump and Republicans on Capitol Hill are considering deep destructive cuts to Medicaid.
Crowd (10:07):
Boo, boo.
Ruth Martin (10:12):
That's right.
(10:13)
Medicaid provides coverage and care for nearly 80 million people in our nation. That's right. America's moms want every policymaker to prioritize our health and our well-being. And we know that Kennedy has not and will not do so. Instead, he is putting our health and our lives in jeopardy. We are sick of it-
Crowd (10:32):
Yeah. We are sick of it.
Ruth Martin (10:35):
… And we want him gone. Thank you.
Crowd (10:57):
Sick of it, sick of it, sick of it, sick of it, sick of it, sick of it, sick of it.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Thank you.
Crowd (11:00):
Sick of it.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
You're right, sick of it.
Crowd (11:00):
Sick of it.
Speaker 1 (11:00):
Okay. Thank you so much, Ruth, and she has laid out so much for so many of us. But now we're also going to hear from Dr. Ian Morgan. Dr. Morgan is a member of the NIH Fellows United UAW2750. His research focuses on understanding and developing better antimicrobials so we can all benefit from the advances of modern medicine, including organ transplants, C-sections, and cancer chemotherapy without fear of untreatable infections.
(11:42)
Thank you for your work, Dr. Morgan. Please come and join us at the podium.
Ian Morgan (11:53):
Thank you. Thank you for that kind introduction. So I'm here as a member of the NIH Fellows Union. Okay, thank you.
(12:05)
So I'm here as a member of the NIH Fellows Union UAW2750, which represents more than 5,000 early career researchers at the NIH. We are the largest federal union to form in over a decade and we are the first union at a federal research facility for early career researchers.
Crowd (12:28):
Whoo.
Ian Morgan (12:28):
We are the ones that work in the labs at the NIH, treat the patients, and make the discoveries that the NIH is known for. My own work focuses on combating antimicrobial resistance, which is considered to be one of the leading global public health threats.
(12:44)
I grew up with two public health specialists as parents, so I spent a lot of time traveling to developing countries, seeing and hearing firsthand the effects of preventable diseases, such as measles. I saw the effects that safe and effective
Ian Morgan (13:00):
… effective vaccines can have for these people. Inspired by my parents, I started off my own career in public health, studying the cost-effectiveness of the MMR vaccine, which protects against measles, mumps, and rubella. During the course of this research, I learned that a $2 vaccine could not only save millions of lives, but it could save patients who survived the disease from over half a million dollars in healthcare costs over the course of their lives. That's why I'm sick of RFK shutting down research and education into vaccines. I'm sick of him peddling conspiracy theories about the safety and efficacy of vaccines. I'm sick of him supporting cuts to Medicaid that will leave everyday Americans stuck paying the bill. Are we okay with this or are we sick of it?
Crowd (13:56):
Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it.
Ian Morgan (14:09):
Like many of my NIH colleagues, I came to the NIH motivated by the dream of making the next groundbreaking discovery that could help save lives. Yet for the last 100-plus days, that dream has been under attack. HHS, led by RFK, has used a series of underhanded tactics to disrupt our work, terrorize us and demoralize us. RFK has said that the ongoing cuts by HHS, and I quote, "are not affecting science." I'm here to tell you that is a lie.
Crowd (14:47):
Shame. Shame.
Ian Morgan (14:47):
It started off with a complete freeze on our ability to order supplies, halting ongoing and time-sensitive research projects. Even as this purchasing freeze expired, HHS took weeks to let us order supplies again. Things got so desperate that some labs set up a standing rule to not use more than half a paper towel to wash their hands. One week after we could purchase again, they put a $1 hold on all our credit cards. Does anyone here really think that we can do life-saving research with only $1?
Crowd (15:22):
No. Shame.
Ian Morgan (15:22):
Then on Valentine's Day, HHS sent a list of probationary employees that they would be firing due to "poor performance" despite letters of exemplary service from their supervisors. I watched as these researchers, who have dedicated their lives in finding treatments and cures, cried in the hallways.
Crowd (15:41):
Shame. Shame.
Ian Morgan (15:45):
Many of you may have heard that 1200 employees were affected, but what you might not know is that the original list included 1500 employees, many of them researchers, many of them my close friends. I spent the weekend sitting on the phone with these friends trying to figure out what was going on, anxiously awaiting to see if they got that revolting letter that many others received. The following week, my friends found out that they had been taken off that list after desperate appeals by the NIH, but no one had bothered to tell them. Does that sound like leadership to you?
Crowd (16:16):
No.
Ian Morgan (16:16):
The RIFs on April 1st eliminated the heads of labs across the NIH. Some of the leftover researchers from those labs are still struggling to pick up the pieces and move forward. They eliminated purchasing agents, making it difficult for researchers to order supplies even as restrictions have been lifted. Over the last month, HHS forced the NIH to cut $2.6 billion in contracts cuts, eliminating crucial scientific staff and support for the scientific equipment that we rely on. Just two weeks ago, HHS fired close to 40 early-career researchers like me because they couldn't get their act together to renew their contracts, despite months of appeals for them to do so.
Crowd (17:02):
Shame on Kennedy.
Ian Morgan (17:06):
One of my friends was mistakenly told that they would have 10 days to leave the country. Another one of my friends was working on clinical research for rare forms of muscular dystrophy, he can't be brought back because there is a hiring freeze on hiring researchers at the NIH.
Crowd (17:23):
Shame.
Ian Morgan (17:25):
Does this sound like not affecting science to you?
Crowd (17:27):
No.
Ian Morgan (17:29):
RFK has failed as a leader and needs to be removed.
Crowd (17:32):
Impeach Kennedy. Impeach Kennedy.
Ian Morgan (17:36):
I'm sick of the lies, sick of not being able to do my work, sick of the constant attacks. Just last week, the administration released a budget proposing 40% cuts to the NIH, but we will not give up. The NIH saves lives and the NIH works because we do. Workers across the NIH and the country are organizing at work and in their communities to fight back. On Tuesday, May 13th, we are calling congresspeople and telling them that they need to sign onto a letter opposing these cuts. Join us in those calls because we are sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it.
Crowd (18:19):
Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it.
Speaker 1 (18:31):
You heard from one person who is able to give us his name because he's part of a union here, but we have two people who are now going to speak… And I thank Dr. Morgan for really laying out what he has to deal with. And now we're going to hear from two more who will remain anonymous. Please come up.
Speaker 2 (19:06):
Although I am an employee at the National Institute of Health, I am speaking today in my personal capacity. I am exercising my right to free speech because I believe it is critical. It is critical that everyone is aware of what is happening at NIH, but since I cannot trust the current administration to respect my right to free speech, I am hiding my face and name to lower the risk of retaliation for myself and my colleagues.
(19:53)
I am dressed in black because I am joining many of my colleagues at Vigil's, right here, every Saturday at 11: 00 AM, to acknowledge and grieve our losses, which are many. These include talented colleagues, critical lifesaving programs, and fundamental scientific ideals. I hope you will come back and join us next week and every week until these losses are restored.
(20:28)
The administration is injecting politics into health research. They loudly wave a banner of academic freedom and call for a culture that encourages scientific consent, while they quietly censor research they find politically inconvenient, fire people who refuse to bow to their wishes, and cut off research to entire academic institutions that choose to support the right of free speech for their students and staff. Current administration policies make it nearly impossible for NIH staff to do our job, to conduct and support scientific research to enhance health, lengthen life, and reduce illness and disability. My job involves overseeing and collaborating on research conducted at external academic institutions. Hundreds of people, who have jobs like mine, have been forced to collectively spend thousands of hours screening countless NIH grants to ensure they align with agency priorities. And just when we are ready to send these awards out the door, the administration finds something new that they don't like and we have to start all over again.
Crowd (21:51):
Shame. Shame. Fire the idiots.
Speaker 2 (21:51):
First, it was DEI and gender ideology, then COVID and vaccine hesitancy, and most recently, foreign sub-awards. And believe me, we, at NIH, are sick of it.
Crowd (22:05):
Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it.
Speaker 2 (22:05):
Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it.
Crowd (22:05):
Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it. Sick of it.
Speaker 2 (22:22):
When we, at NIH, cannot do our jobs, the consequence is dire. Reduced health and lost lives. Just yesterday, I attended a discussion of the ethical costs of terminating or delaying clinical trials midstream, something that is now a far too common occurrence for NIH trials. The discussion was heart-wrenching. We heard about biological samples donated from people who made this incredible gift with the understanding that researchers would use those samples to better understand their disease. But HHS has forced these trials to be abruptly halted, and so we cannot follow through on this commitment.
Crowd (23:07):
Impeach Kennedy.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
We heard about delayed trials with people receiving novel drugs with uncertain safety profiles, who had experienced not only gaps in access to these drugs itself, but the critical safety follow-up that is a fundamental expectation for such research. And perhaps worst of all, we heard from program staff who were explicitly told by their leadership not to warn their grantees of impending trial terminations or delays, thus preventing grantees from at least preparing and taking actions to try to reduce the dire consequences of a midstream termination.
(23:57)
Perhaps this approach of disrupt first and fix later works in Silicon Valley. Perhaps it is okay when the consequences occur at the level of tweets, but when you are playing with human lives, coming in with a chainsaw is unethical, morally reprehensible and cruel. We cannot wait to repair these policies. They must be corrected now. If we delay, people will suffer.
Crowd (24:42):
People will die.
Speaker 2 (24:42):
People will die.
Crowd (24:47):
Shame. Impeach Kennedy.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
I want to thank Senator Alsobrooks for providing this platform today and I want to thank all of you for being here, for speaking up and for listening. It's going to take all of us coming together to fix this. Thank you.
Crowd (25:11):
RFK has got to go. RFK has got to go. RFK has got to go. RFK has got to go. RFK has got to go. RFK has got to go.
Speaker 1 (25:11):
RFK has got to go.
Crowd (25:13):
RFK has got to go.
Speaker 1 (25:32):
And if you want to hear-
Crowd (25:32):
RFK has got to go. RFK has got to go.
Speaker 1 (25:37):
And if you want to hear more why he needs to go, listen up. Here we go.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
Hello. I'm here in my personal capacity and today I want to speak to the impact of NIH research and cures. I have a friend here at NIH who was fired
Ruth Martin (26:00):
Hired on Valentine's…
Crowd (26:04):
Boo. [inaudible 00:26:08].
Ruth Martin (26:08):
She is doubly impacted because she's also a rare disease patient. She took this job because she thought it was stable and it has great benefits including health insurance that will cover IVF services, which she needs as a result of her rare disease. Now she's having to rethink her future, not only for starting a family, but for fulfilling her dream of getting a PhD to study rare diseases like her own, because as my predecessor mentioned, vital NIH funding has been halted to research universities and PhD programs are being impacted.
(26:54)
Just a week ago, hundreds of staff were fired to make up for staff who were previously fired and then reinstated so that they could keep their layoff targets. NIH staff are being treated simply like numbers without any care, consideration, or humanity. Just yesterday, probationary staff who were reinstated were re-fired by mail. The staff we have lost were not the fat of a bloated institution. They were critical to carrying out the NIH mission, which in our current state can no longer be met. On Thursday, the division of logistics services was cut. This division is responsible for stocking the research labs like what Dr. Morgan was telling you about, and in all 27 NIH institutes including running the NIH supply store. Two days ago, they sent out an email saying The NIH supply store can no longer process new orders or restock, so come get your supplies.
(28:21)
There was a run on the NIH supply store and it was like trying to find toilet paper during the pandemic. Labs are having to hoard their supplies. This is a manufactured crisis that is easily resolved by restoring people back to the jobs that they were doing very well. We are here to ask for NIH and HHS leadership to bring them back. Bring them back. Bring them back. Bring them back.
Crowd (29:04):
Bring them back, bring them back, bring them back, bring them back, bring them back, bring them back.
Ruth Martin (29:08):
In 1989, former NIH director Francis Collins, discovered the gene for cystic fibrosis using NIH funding while he was at University of Michigan as a researcher. That discovery in 1989 became the basis for a game-changing treatment for cystic fibrosis called Trikafta, that greatly expanded the life expectancy and quality of life for people living with CF. Trikafta didn't become available in 2019, 30 years after the gene was first discovered. That is how long it takes for scientific discoveries to become cures. What we're seeing right now, the gaps in funding, the interruptions to research, we will be paying for it decades down the road.
Crowd (30:07):
Trying to prove a fact.
Ruth Martin (30:10):
Cures will be delayed and trainees like my friend, may never get their PhDs to become the next generation of scientists, or they're going to take their intellectual contributions abroad.
Crowd (30:25):
Brain drain.
Ruth Martin (30:26):
Brain drain. It just so happens that one of the CF patients who received Trikafta is a family member of one Russell Vought.
Crowd (30:39):
He's a pig.
Ruth Martin (30:40):
I honestly have no words. So we will let our actions speak for us. We will be here at 11 AM every Saturday holding vigils for what we are losing each week until cuts and funding and personnel are restored to the public and the scientific community. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Okay. What I'd like to hear right now is thank you. Thank you to these three amazing people who are working every day to save lives. That's all we're asking.
Crowd (31:24):
Thank you.
Speaker 1 (31:29):
And I am going to say thank you as well to Ashima Talwar, who is here for Senator Chris Van Hollen, who is also working every day to help us. So we've heard courage and we've heard commitment, and now we're going to hear as well from our own county executive Mark Elrich. Mark knows better than anyone how disproportionately Montgomery County has been targeted by this president and his completely unqualified administration. Cuts to NIH, loss of federal funding and more. Montgomery County is hurting because of this president's action. So let's hear from Mark.
Mark Elrich (32:31):
I'll just say that the pain to the county is minuscule compared to the pain to this country. I don't want to be confused, our job losses are terrible. We lost more people in the first round the cuts than we lost in the previous two years in terms of increase in unemployment. We expect a lot more of that. We are seeing cuts in programs to deal with climate change. We're seeing cuts in programs to deal with Medicaid. We are very worried about the assault on Medicaid that's going to destroy the medical system for so many hundreds of thousands, if not millions of people in the state of Maryland. And those people will not get medical care. They will not be able to get the care they're getting now and they are going to die. And we need to be clear about this. This administration is like a giant walking death trap.
(33:23)
It's whether they're cutting NIOSH so that you don't protect worker safety, whether you're going after SNAP benefits so kids don't get food on the table, whether you're attacking basic research like this, so you can't make the future discoveries. But I want to say something about the research that NIH does. One thing is they don't just look for cures, because nobody wants to keep treating a thing over and over again, they look for causes, and this is what Donald Trump and Elon Musk and the rest of the corporate clowns who are running this country are very interested. It's making sure that you don't know what you need to know. If you don't know the effect of PFAS, if you don't know the effect of microplastics, if we hadn't known the effects of DDT, all those things will continue to be out there infinitely, and more people will get sick and more people will die unless somebody regulates them. And that's where the NIH comes in.
(34:21)
The discovery of a cause leads to a justification for regulation, and a regulation lands on companies who make a lot of money by being able to operate in an unregulated universe, and that's what they're after. I don't think the hate to cure is nearly the causes, and that's what's underneath this. The other thing that struck me is NIH was doing research on the effects, the geographical locational effects of people and on particular populations because they were looking the next community that's going to be the next love canal. There are many communities in this country that suffer from exposure to pollutants and dangerous chemicals in the environment that are still unregulated, which I find totally amazing when you know what these things are, and they don't want to be held accountable and they don't want to be responsible for minority death. It's a lot easier to dump stuff in communities that don't have political power, and that way you can get away with using them as a testing ground, if you want to use it as a testing ground, or just a dumping ground.
(35:26)
All of this is increasing the lethality of this government. I want to see Robert Kennedy gone. He's one of those people that you wish were never born, but he could leave tomorrow and this president who needs to be gone more than anyone, will find another person to do the dirty work because there are plenty of people out there who agree with what he wants to do, and Robert Kennedy was just the latest convenience stooge to bring him a few votes in an election that would get him elected. He could dispose of Kennedy tomorrow. He will find somebody equally evil, equally ill-intentioned to do this work. Elon Musk, I'm sure could be looking for more work depending where his Tesla company goes. So I'm really worried about not just the effect on research. I'm really worried about the long-term effects now on human beings and the long-term effects in our society. We've been abroad. We've been trying to recruit companies in the life sciences to come to Montgomery County. You know what we sell. NIH and FDA. And the fact that we're the second-largest concentration of PhDs, science-based workers in the country. You have to be an idiot to destroy that. You're not even a good capitalist. You don't even understand the value that these people bring. Leave it aside, if you just wanted to be mercenary and just say, what's the economic value? The economic value of NIH is enormous, absolutely enormous. The lives they save are enormous. This is all important work, and he doesn't care. And he doesn't care because he'd rather protect the few than protect the many. I'm sick of this. I'm fed up.
(37:18)
I tell people I've been demonstrating since 1961, so I don't get tired. Being told you're going out to a demonstration, it was like, "Yeah, okay, I can do this. I know how this goes." And I will keep coming out to demonstrations until this nightmare, this national nightmare, is over and done with, and I hope you do too. We have to stand up and fight. And we've got a call on the silent people, and I've been saying this for a while. This fascism has come in to the country wrapped in two things. It's got an American flag wrapped about its body, and it's got a Bible in its hand.
(37:54)
Okay, I want to talk about the things I could get arrested for because I saw the executive order. Fun things. I am responsible for operating homeless shelters in Montgomery County because I'm the executive. So if I provide shelter to somebody, I'm harboring a criminal. If I feed somebody, I'm harboring a criminal. If we provide medical care to somebody in our clinics that we have in Montgomery County that serve the population without medical care, we're harboring people. I don't understand where not feeding the hungry, not healing the sick and not housing the homeless is a Christian value? And I don't understand, you tell me why The mainstream churches in this country aren't standing up and saying, this is not Christianity. They can't let them get away with stealing this. I'm not a Christian, but I understand the core values that these people have. They share the same core values as Jews and Muslims and pretty much everybody else. You cannot let this group of lunatics steal the core values and turn this into
Mark Elrich (39:00):
…to a Christian crusade, it is an antichrist crusade. It is not a Christian crusade. So fight on, fight hard, fight continually. Get sick, but don't get debilitated. Get sick and still come out and fight. Thank you.
Speaker 1 (39:24):
And what you just heard, it's as bad as you think it is. It's probably worse than you think it is. But we are so fortunate because we have a new senator who is holding up Maryland's tradition here and who has been holding RFK Junior accountable every chance she gets. And today's one of those days. You see, she's a daughter and she's a mother, and she's here with all of us. She pulled us together because it's for all of our mothers, all of our grandmothers, all of our children. It's for everyone. And she's gathered us here today because she's sick of it. And we are too. As we feel hopeless and scared for a future where our health and human services department is being run by a conspiracy theorist, that's pretty scary, we can take pride and comfort in knowing we have Angela Alsobrooks holding him accountable, and demand [inaudible 00:40:50] on behalf of all of us.
(40:52)
Thank you, and let's welcome Angela Alsobrooks.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (41:00):
Are you sick of it?
Audience (41:01):
Yes.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (41:02):
Are you sick of the lies?
Audience (41:04):
Yes.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (41:04):
Are you sick of the cruelty?
Audience (41:06):
Yes.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (41:07):
Are you sick of the incompetence?
Audience (41:09):
Yes.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (41:09):
Are you sick of the immorality?
Audience (41:11):
Yes.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (41:11):
Are you sick of the lack of integrity?
Audience (41:13):
Yes.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (41:14):
Are you sick of Donald Trump?
Audience (41:16):
Yes.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (41:16):
Are you sick of RFK Junior?
Audience (41:18):
Yes.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (41:19):
I'm sick of it too. And I want to thank all of you for being here today. Thank you for the courageous speakers who have come forward today. We are sick of it. Sick of it. Today we stand… And let me just say, this is the United States of America. We believe in the constitution. We believe in the right for people to express their opinions, all of them today. And so don't worry, we are all here because we have the right to express how we feel in our country.
(41:50)
Today, we stand outside of NIH. This is the world's leading agency for public health research. This is the place the nation looks to for discoveries in public health. This is where the world looks to fight global health crises. This is the beacon of American exceptionalism, research, science. This is the core of America's exceptionalism. This is what separates us from the rest of the world. And over the last 40 years, NIH has helped reduce deaths from heart disease by 75%. Deaths from stroke are down 75%. And NIH funding has led the fight to save countless lives with groundbreaking discoveries. NIH, hear me, is the greatest credit to sustained medical research in the history of the world.
(42:56)
But now we're dealing with an administration, an asinine administration, that is a direct threat to our health. Since Donald Trump has taken office, NIH has fired 1,300 employees and canceled more than $2 billion in federal research grants. How awful. How shameful. And he wants to cut the NIH by another 40%. Please know that these cuts would be carried out under the ridiculous leadership of RFK Junior, our asinine HHS secretary, and one of the most unqualified members we have ever seen, in a cabinet that is full of them.
(43:50)
Secretary Kennedy took an oath to faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which he was about to enter. And to this point, he has utterly failed. RFK is making Americans sicker, and we are sick of it. And in fact, I believe that RFK Junior ought to wear a label. We ought to label him because he is dangerous to our health. If you don't believe me, let's just look at what he's done in just four months. We are currently watching the largest single measles outbreak in our nation in 25 years. 25 years. And how shameful is it, and how irresponsible to allow any child in the United States of America to die of measles? Any child and any person. There are 1,000 cases, and a third of them are children younger than five years old. Three people have died, including two children.
(44:58)
For years, Kennedy, without an ounce of medical training… I asked him at his hearing, "Do you have any medical training? The answer is no. Do you have any scientific background? The answer is no." He is unqualified to do the work that he is doing. But he spread lies and conspiracy theories about safe and effective vaccines, vaccines that literally prevent measles. A qualified HHS secretary would highlight the effectiveness of vaccines and urge people to continue getting vaccinated. Any person with any conscience would urge people to get vaccines. In fact, he vaccinated his own children, and is so ruthless and so irresponsible that he is urging others to be careful of the very vaccines that he gave to his own children. A capable secretary would have some sense of compassion for the suffering of children. The secretary we have instead chose to downplay the deaths and encourage untreated quack methods and treatments. This is dangerous, and Americans will get sicker. And in fact, they already have.
(46:16)
Our nation has made incredible gains in IVF and infertility treatment, raising the birth rate through IVF dramatically over the last 30 years. But just last month, wouldn't you believe it, RFK fired the entire team at CDC who works on IVF and infertility research? Can you believe this? How dare he? How dare he?
Audience (46:41):
Shame.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (46:43):
RFK fired most of the employees at the CDC's Division of Reproductive health, which helps to promote healthy pregnancy. How dare he? Can you believe this? How dare he?
Audience (46:55):
Shame.
(46:55)
Shame.
(46:55)
Shame.
(46:55)
Shame.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (46:58):
And to add insult to injury, RFK fired staff at the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, which oversees important programs that support children and pregnant women. Now, tomorrow is Mother's Day, and there are countless women, I know so many of them, across our country who've become mothers thanks to the incredible advancements in IVF. And how dare this wicked man try and take that away? How dare he?
Audience (47:29):
How dare he?
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (47:29):
We're sick of it.
Audience (47:29):
Sick of it.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (47:32):
We're sick of it.
Audience (47:34):
Sick of it.
Senator Angela Alsobrooks (47:36):
Our nation has made great progress in the fight to eliminate HIV and AIDS, building on our understanding of how to treat the virus and getting closer to finding a cure, until now. This wicked man, RFK Junior, has now cut funding for dozens of HIV-related research grants. How dare he? Did you know that there's a National Firefighter Registry…
