Press Releases

The Chairs of the Congressional Tri-Caucus — Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus (CAPAC) Chair Rep. Grace Meng (NY-06), Congressional Hispanic Caucus (CHC) Chair Rep. Adriano Espaillat (NY-13), and Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) Chair Rep. Yvette Clarke (NY-09) — released the following joint statement in response to reports that Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. defunded the Office of Minority Health to expand his personal security staff:

“Let's not mince words, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. took money from babies to beef up his entourage. We should be used to it by now -- Kennedy has been the most incompetent, irresponsible and out-of-touch secretary to ever hold this office.

“But like his boss, Kennedy keeps finding new ways to lower the bar. According to the Wall Street Journal, he went after the Office of Minority Health funds rather than tap his office's existing discretionary funds. The Office of Minority Health was set up to combat Black infant mortality -- an issue that still haunts our health care delivery system.

“To add insult to injury, HHS canceled minority health grants to universities -- research on infant mortality -- to prioritize the secretary's misguided personal agenda, including research on erectile dysfunction. At a time when our nation is facing a health care crisis created by President Trump and Congressional Republicans, these are absolutely the wrong priorities.”