U.S. Senator Katie Britt Secures Commitments from HHS Secretary Kennedy to Support NIH Research and Head Start, Address Youth Mental Health Crisis
WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Katie Britt (R-Ala.) today attended a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing to review President Trump’s Fiscal Year 2026 (FY26) Budget Request for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Senator Britt questioned HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., on reforms at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), our nation’s youth mental health crisis, and the importance of continued support for Head Start.
Senator Britt, who has previously advocated for smart, targeted NIH reforms to HHS Secretary Kennedy, began her line of questioning by highlighting the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), one of our nation’s leading biomedical research institutes: “I think every cent of hard earned taxpayer dollars should be used responsibly, should be used efficiently, judiciously, and we have to be accountable. And I appreciate you taking that approach to every portion of the areas in which you oversee. You mentioned . . . several of the people that we feel like are not utilizing this right and are taking advantage of the system.”
The Senator continued, “I want to say thank you for your comments last week at the HELP Committee, where you specifically pointed out the University of Alabama and the System, University of Alabama at Birmingham . . . people trying to do it right.” She went on to ask for the HHS Secretary’s“commitment to continuing that conversation as we work to make sure that we use hard earned taxpayer dollars wisely and efficiently, and we also make sure that we have lifesaving and life changing research that continues.”
“Yes, Senator, and based upon some of our conversations and conversations that I’ve continued to have expressing your concerns for, particularly for the state schools that do not have endowments that really need lab support and need gloves and test tubes and mass spectrometers and all of the things that you need to do to do first-class science. We want to be paying for that. And we figured out devices in which we can do that, but not through the indirect cost mechanism,” Secretary Kennedy responded.
“I also want to thank you as a mom,” Senator Britt continued. “Out of all of the different Secretaries that we voted on and confirmed, I think my friends were most excited about you, because they thought for once they had someone that was willing to take on, whether it’s big companies or Big Tech, in the name of health for their children.”
Senator Britt’s second line of questioning focused on our nation’s youth mental health crisis, and its’ causes, including social media and environmental factors: “When it comes to social media, that’s something, as a mom of a 15 and a 16-year-old that I get to see the effects of firsthand, not just in my own home, but with my friends and things that are happening in the community. People need to know about the mental health challenges that can occur from [persistent social media use]. [I] just want your commitment that . . . as you take on toxins in the air, things that are in the environment, things that are in our food, that we’ll also look at the things that are in our children’s hands and how we can do better to put up guardrails to allow them to continue to explore, but to do it in a safer manner.”
“Absolutely,” Secretary Kennedy responded, “And I want to thank you for your support.”
In her final line of questioning, the Senator asked Secretary Kennedy to speak directly to American families and providers about “this Administration’s plan for supporting and sustaining Head Start in FY26 and how you’re working to provide them with the stability that they need to serve those vulnerable children as well.”
“I’m very grateful to (Office of Management and Budget Director) Russell Vought. I told him how important Head Start was to me. My uncle, Sargent Shriver, started the program. There’s 800,000 of the poorest kids in this country who are served by this program. It not only teaches the kids preschool skills, reading, writing, and arithmetic . . . to prepare them for schools, but it also teaches the parents and teaches them how to be good parents,” stated Secretary Kennedy.
“We see that the children who are exposed to those programs have less contact with law enforcement later in life, they’re more likely to graduate from high school and college, they’re more likely to hold down jobs. There’s a lot of problems with Head Start. We’ve kept it fully funded, and I’m very grateful to Russell for that and to the President, but there’s things we need to correct . . . but we’re going to have a better and brighter Head Start by the end of this Administration,” Secretary Kennedy affirmed.
The Senator’s line of questioning can be viewed here.
Senator Britt recently participated in a full Appropriations Committee hearing where she introduced one of the witnesses, Dr. Barry Sleckman, Director of UAB’s O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center. “Thanks to his leadership, UAB’s O’Neal Comprehensive Cancer Center has continued to fulfill its mission, bringing hope to families and communities with the ultimate vision of a life without cancer for patients across Alabama and the southeast. We are blessed to have him and his expertise and his commitment in Alabama, and I am grateful he is here with us today to share his insights,” she stated in her introductory remarks.
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