Sept. 4, 2025, 5 a.m.
Senate Democrats are amplifying calls for Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to resign—laying out the case in a new report ahead of an expected blockbuster Finance Committee hearing on Thursday where RFK Jr. will be pressed to defend his decision-making on vaccines and personnel issues at the department.
The 54-page report, first obtained by National Journal, enumerates Kennedy's actions and rhetoric in the first 203 days of his leadership. Led by top Finance Committee Democrat Ron Wyden and Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee member Angela Alsobrooks, the report argues that Kennedy has spread health misinformation, dismissed key staff, and undermined public health institutions. They say his leadership has wreaked havoc across systems, while also allowing him and his allies to personally benefit from his own policies.
The report was published just hours ahead of the hearing, where the HHS secretary was scheduled to testify about the president’s 2026 health care agenda. However, the hearing was expected to morph into an examination of Kennedy’s latest actions—including the firing of the former director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Susan Monarez, the public resignation of several senior officials at the agency, and changes in the COVID vaccine schedule—that have captured the headlines and angered lawmakers from both parties.
“We also are just demanding that he be fired or removed from office, and I think the report makes the case very clearly,” Alsobrooks told National Journal. “It’s unmistakable—the information in that report makes the case as to why he’s too dangerous to continue serving.”
The report lays out the issues Democrats—and even some Republicans—are expected to grill Kennedy on. Along with detailing the daily headlines that have come out of HHS since Kennedy has taken the helm, the report examines the impacts of the mass firings led by the Department of Government Efficiency, and lays out a case that Kennedy and others in his orbit could personally benefit from policies that seek to undermine vaccines.
The report also lays out the promises made by the now-HHS secretary during his confirmation process—and contrasts them with his actions, including changing the CDC vaccine schedule and downplaying the Texas measles outbreak.
The report comes a day after more than 1,000 current and former HHS employees sent a letter to the department and to members of Congress calling on the secretary to resign. Only President Trump can fire him, and the president has shown no indication he would do that.
Wyden said that he will be pressing Kennedy over his latest actions undermining vaccines, along with how he plans to enact health care cuts through the “One Big Beautiful Bill” Act.
Alsobrooks, who won’t be questioning Kennedy Thursday but could do so if the HELP panel holds a hearing in the future, said she wants to know whether the secretary will “accept personal responsibility for the death of any child who succumbs to measles” or any disease that could be prevented through inoculation.
In May, Alsobrooks—along with Sens. Wyden and Elizabeth Warren—filed a resolution of disapproval expressing a lack of confidence in the HHS secretary being able to carry out his official duties, and called on him to resign. Only Democratic lawmakers have publicly called for Kennedy’s resignation—so far.
Still, Kennedy’s leadership at HHS has also ruffled Republican feathers. Sen. John Kennedy called on the secretary to “quell the chaos” earlier this week. HELP Chair Bill Cassidy called for oversight from his own panel to look into the ouster of CDC officials, but he has given few details as to how that will be conducted.
Both Wyden and Alsobrooks have signaled a willingness to work with Republicans on oversight efforts.
“I think our approach of working with anybody who wants to do the right thing is what the American people and voters are asking for,” Wyden said.
