Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., during a hearing on Capitol Hill on March 14, 2024. Sanders is pushing for a bipartisan investigation into the firing of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, while Cassidy said he wants congressional oversight, although he didn't offer specifics.

Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Bill Cassidy, R-La., during a hearing on Capitol Hill on March 14, 2024. Sanders is pushing for a bipartisan investigation into the firing of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention director, while Cassidy said he wants congressional oversight, although he didn't offer specifics. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Bipartisan senators call for CDC oversight following firing of agency’s director

The removal of Director Susan Monarez was followed by the resignations of four other agency officials who criticized proposed funding cuts and politicization of public health.

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., is pushing for a bipartisan investigation into the firing of Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez, which prompted the resignations of four other senior leaders at the agency. 

The ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee pointed to statements by the former CDC officials that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. has been putting political pressure on the agency. 

“[Kennedy] is pushing out scientific leaders who refuse to act as a rubber stamp for his dangerous conspiracy theories and manipulate science. Enough is enough,” Sanders wrote in a Thursday letter to Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy, R-La. “We have got to make it clear to Secretary Kennedy that his actions to double down on his war on science and disinformation campaign must end. Too many lives are at stake.”

Cassidy’s office did not respond to a request for comment, but the senator did post on X that this matter would require oversight by the committee. Cassidy, a medical doctor, had expressed reservations about the nomination of Kennedy, who has spread misinformation about vaccines for years. But he agreed to support him after receiving several commitments related to vaccines

Sanders specifically requested that Kennedy, Monarez and the CDC officials who resigned testify at a hearing. Kennedy is scheduled to testify next week before the Senate Finance Committee. 

The secretary said during a press conference on Thursday that he is now “very confident” in the political leadership at the agency. 

“There’s a lot of trouble at CDC, and it’s going to require getting rid of some people over the long-term in order for us to change the institutional culture and bring back pride and self-esteem and make that agency the stellar agency that it’s always been,” Kennedy said.  

Monarez, a longtime federal health official, was confirmed by the Senate to lead CDC only a month ago in a party-line 51-47 vote

A Wednesday post from the HHS X account said that Monarez was no longer the head of CDC. Lawyers for Monarez responded in a statement that she had not resigned or been informed by the White House that she was fired. 

The attorneys wrote that Monarez was being targeted because she “refused to rubber-stamp unscientific, reckless directives and fire dedicated health experts.” 

Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a briefing on Thursday that the president had fired Monarez. 

“Her lawyers' statement made it abundantly clear that she was not aligned with the president's mission to make America healthy again,” Leavitt said. 

Deputy HHS Secretary Jim O’Neill is currently listed on the CDC’s website as acting director

Government Executive obtained the resignation letters of Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry, National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases Director Demetre Daskalakis and National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases Director Dan Jernigan. Jennifer Layden, director of the Office of Public Health Data, Surveillance and Technology, also resigned, according to multiple media reports. 

Houry, Daskalakis and Jernigan cited ongoing budget cuts, agency reorganization and politicalization of public health efforts in their decisions to leave the CDC.

“For the good of the nation and the world, the science at CDC should never be censored or subject to political pauses or interpretations,” Houry wrote, adding that “proposed budget cuts and reorganization plans will negatively impact CDC’s ability to address” a range of public health challenges. 

“I am committed to protecting the public’s health, but ongoing changes prevent me from continuing my job as a leader of the agency,” she said.

CDC employees — who are still reeling after a gunman who opposed the COVID-19 vaccine fired hundreds of bullets at the agency’s Atlanta headquarters earlier this month — gathered outside of the campus Thursday to support the departing officials

Kennedy has overseen multiple anti-vaccine actions as HHS leader. The Food and Drug Administration on Wednesday limited eligibility for the next round of COVID shots, and the secretary replaced all of the members of a vaccine advisory board.  

Cassidy on Thursday said in a statement that the vaccine advisory committee’s scheduled Sept. 18 meeting should be postponed due to “serious allegations…about the meeting agenda, membership and lack of scientific process being followed.” The senator warned that if the meeting does occur “any recommendations made should be rejected as lacking legitimacy given the seriousness of the allegations and the current turmoil in CDC leadership.”

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