DeGette, Pallone, and Health Subcommittee Democrats Demand Oversight Hearing Following Ouster of CDC Director and Senior Leaders

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee Ranking Member Diana DeGette (CO-01), Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone, Jr. (NJ-06), and all Democratic Health subcommittee members called on GOP Energy and Commerce Committee leadership to immediately convene hearings following the firing of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director Dr. Susan Monarez and the departure of several other senior CDC officials. 

“The fact that Dr. Monarez was forced out for following the evidence and the science is disturbing, to say the least,”the Members wrote. “This is part of a clear pattern of Secretary Kennedy’s direct attack on scientific integrity in favor of his extremist, unscientific views.”

The Members also highlighted the broader risks to public health and national security, saying “the substantial chaos at the agency and the simultaneous departure of the nation’s experts in critical infectious disease topic areas leaves the agency weakened and our nation’s public health infrastructure extremely vulnerable to potential biosecurity threats.”

The letter demands testimony from HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., other senior HHS officials, and the CDC leaders who recently departed, to shed light on the circumstances of Dr. Monarez’s removal and the state of science-based policymaking at the nation’s top public health agency.

Read the Members' full letter here.

###