Amna Nawaz
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WATCH: Lawmaker gives Kennedy an ‘F’ for errors in MAHA commission report
Posted
June 24, 2025
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June 24, 2025
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4:52Now PlayingRep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., held up a copy of an assessment the Department of Health and Human Services released in May that aimed to address the key drivers behind childhood chronic disease.
Ruiz said Kennedy’s wide-ranging “Make America Healthy Again” report was “riddled with mistakes, misconstruing and intentionally or not misstating key references, data and evidence that either do not exist or not accurately reflected in the report.”
A sticky note with a handwritten “F” could be seen on the report Ruiz held up.
When multiple journalists reached out to authors of the studies included in the MAHA assessment, some said they didn’t write the papers that were cited or the cited papers didn’t exist.
Ruiz asked Kennedy if he read the report and fact-checked the sources before it was published, to which Kennedy said he had not fact-checked the report.
“Why then did the report include a citation to sources that don't even exist. How does that happen under your leadership, sir?” Ruiz asked.
“All of the foundational assertions in that report are accurate,” Kennedy said.
“They did not exist. How can they be accurate if they did not exist, sir?” Ruiz said.
There was more crosstalk between the two before Ruiz said that if an undergraduate student would have turned in the report, they would have received an “F” “for the misinterpretation, the falsehoods, the denials, and also citing references that don't don't even exist” in this kind of report.
Kennedy said the errors were corrected within 24 hours.
Ruiz said the secretary’s words “carry significant weight” and that the HHS secretary “plays an important role in upholding scientific integrity.”
Kennedy testified Tuesday on his agency’s budget request before a House panel, where he faced questioning about changes to U.S. vaccine policy, transparency actions, and his replacement of a panel of vaccine experts who make key recommendations.
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