The MAHA movement in Congress: Who and what to watch

WASHINGTON — In the span of one year, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. closed out his independent presidential campaign, endorsed President Donald Trump and now faces a clear path to head the Department of Health and Human Services.

His trajectory to one of the most influential Cabinet positions in the Trump administration was buoyed in large part by the movement he led, dubbed Make America Healthy Again, which has sparked the creation of a political action committee as well as a congressional caucus devoted to lowering rates of chronic disease and removing industry influence from the agencies.

The movement is not without controversy. Kennedy’s opponents have taken issue with his history of sowing distrust in vaccines, including heading the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defense. Kennedy has maintained that he’s not against vaccines but has repeatedly called into question the established science behind them.

Kennedy’s nomination advanced Tuesday with a 14-13 vote in the Senate Finance Committe, earning the support of Senate, Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Bill Cassidy, who expressed doubt just days ago that Kennedy would not discourage people from taking vaccines. He can lose three GOP votes in the Senate and still be confirmed, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie. Cassidy’s support appears to have cleared a path for his confirmation.

Meanwhile in Congress, the Make America Healthy Again movement, also known as MAHA, has garnered momentum by largely keeping vaccines out of its main issue areas, instead touting health issues like nutrition and the influence of big money in health care that are more palatable to both sides of the aisle.

Here’s a look at Kennedy’s allies in Congress and how they hope to bring the MAHA movement to fruition.

Agency overhaul

Late last year, a group of Republican senators, including Roger Marshall, Tommy Tuberville and Rick Scott, announced the creation of the “Make America Healthy Again Caucus.” A House counterpart caucus was announced by Pennsylvania Republican Reps. John Joyce and Lloyd K. Smucker. So far, all members are Republicans.

The caucus has a wide-ranging agenda, but the lawmakers’ goals appear to hinge on a central theme: digging into the federal health agencies with an added layer of skepticism.

Such skepticism is not new: After the pandemic, Republican lawmakers called for sweeping investigations into the federal health agencies, a request spurred by their concerns about the handling of the pandemic.

Now, Trump has built out his health operations with agency head picks who were critical of the Biden administration’s pandemic response. That criticism could fuel MAHA’s legislative priorities now that Republicans have control of both chambers and Trump is in office.

Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, a member of the caucus, said that his involvement will be mainly in his capacity as the chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations.

He said he plans to hold a series of “foundation-building” hearings to lay out issues with corruption in science and in health agencies. He said he’s particularly concerned about big business getting too involved in agency operations.

“I come from the private sector. I have no problem with big companies, except when they use their power and influence to corrupt the process,” Johnson said. “And that’s what’s happened time and time again.”

He said he was concerned about agency staff leaving their jobs for the private sector. He also questioned why pharmaceutical companies spend “billions” on ads in which they have to disclose that the drugs could “potentially kill you.”

Johnson, who voiced skepticism about the COVID-19 vaccines when they first came to market, said that he also wants the agencies to recover more information on the COVID-19 vaccines. Johnson announced last week that he issued a subpoena to HHS demanding records related to vaccine safety data and communications about the COVID-19 pandemic.

“You have to restore integrity of science, you have to restore integrity in these agencies,” Johnson said. “We need to expose how they’ve withheld all this information.”

Johnson’s concerns about transparency echo those of Del Bigtree, who is the head of MAHA Action, a 501(c)4, and former communications director for Kennedy’s 2024 presidential run.

Speaking to a group of reporters following Kennedy’s confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Jan. 29, Bigtree opined that HHS isn’t transparent enough about requests for information on food and drug products. He said he wants to see more information from pharmaceutical companies on the trials they run.

“Let the public decide now if this is a product that they want to be eating or not,” he said. “Or using or inhaling or drinking or injecting.”

Preventive care and chronic disease

Rep. Vern Buchanan, R-Fla., a founding member of the caucus on the House side who chairs the House Ways and Means Committee Health Subcommittee, said in an email that he plans to introduce legislation soon that seeks to lower costs for Americans who have chronic diseases and expand coverage options for patients.

Buchanan said he met with Kennedy in Palm Beach, Fla., several days before he was announced as Trump’s pick for HHS and hopes to bring Kennedy in to appear before the committee, specifically working on combating the obesity epidemic and preventive health.

He said he also plans to focus on encouraging physical activity and hopes to take up a bill introduced by Rep. Mike Kelly, R-Pa., in the 118th Congress that would allow a portion of health savings accounts and flexible savings accounts funds to be spent on physical fitness activities. He also said he’s looking to reintroduce a bill that aims to make it easier for people to access advanced lung cancer screenings.

“The MAHA Caucus will promote nutrition and the ‘Food as Medicine’ approach and a shared goal to Make America Healthy Again,” he said.

Sen. Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo., a member of the caucus, said last week that the caucus hadn’t met yet but is likely to meet following Kennedy’s Senate confirmation vote. She said she expects the members will then decide which of the caucus’ priorities can be handled legislatively and which will be handled at the executive level.

Beyond Kennedy

Bigtree said that he hopes the MAHA movement goes beyond Kennedy’s confirmation. He said the group is going to target other politicians and track newly elected officials to get them on board with the MAHA agenda.

“Whether or not Robert Kennedy Jr. was confirmed, that doesn’t change his movement,” Bigtree said.

MAHA’s influence in Congress comes at a chaotic time for federal health operations.

The Department of Health and Human Services froze through Feb. 1 most external communications coming from the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration, including documents published in the Federal Register, press releases and website updates.

The White House issued, and then appeared to rescind, a memo halting the federal disbursement of grants and loans, raising questions about the security of Medicaid. On Friday, the CDC pulled from its website of a host of pages having to do with sexually transmitted diseases, LGBTQ+ health issues and youth risk behaviors.

Liz Hamel, the vice president and director of public opinion and survey research at KFF, said polling numbers show that the Republicans who reported declining levels of trust in the agencies themselves nonetheless had high levels of trust in Trump’s pick to lead them.

She said moving forward she’s going to be watching for how public opinion shifts after the confirmation of agency heads.

“How is that going to affect trust in the agencies?” she asked. “Is it going to further erode trust because those who currently have trust in the agencies are not the same people who say they trust these individuals?

“Or is it going to bolster trust among those who currently don’t trust the agencies?” she said.

Calley Means, a former food industry lobbyist turned author and an adviser to Kennedy, told a group of reporters last week after the Senate Finance Committee hearing with Kennedy that he expects to see trust inch back up after Kennedy’s term as secretary if he’s confirmed.

But he argued that Americans are right to have low trust in the health agencies as they’re currently set up.

“It’s often reported that it’s like a problem, or somehow there’s something wrong with the American people losing trust in health care agencies and public health authorities,” he said. “I want to talk to anyone who has trust in our public health authorities.

“We’re the sickest country in the developed world.”