RFK Nomination

 Finance: The Nomination of Robert F. Kennedy for HHS. January 29, 2025

I write today in support of the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., for the post of Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services. I so for the following reasons:

1. The actual work of leading the department will lie with the Deputy Secretary. I trust that the Committee will work closely with the professional staff at the White House to nominate and confirm a qualified person for this office who will put the interests of the nation over the whims of the President and his supporters in CEO world. If Leadership wishes to entertain him with a gadfly, who am I to protest?
2. I fully endorse Mr. Kennedy’s positions regarding the role that nutrition has for health, as well as the role of the food industry in putting profits before the health of its customers. Indeed, I would much rather he were appointed to be Secretary of Agriculture to drive home this point. It would be interesting to see the reaction of Senator Grassley to Kennedy’s appointment to either post. Either way, if confirmed, the national debate on the American diet will be too good to ignore. For this reason, I expect this nomination to lose on the floor. I only hope that during this process, the interests of those that oppose him from Big Ag are laid bare.

Hold on repayments

Once a grant has been obligated, the responsible contracting officer must deobligate that grant. Once a grant or contract is obligated, disbursements which were billed must be paid. Rookie mistake by whomever signed the memo. They will be visited by the GAO shortly. Fun times.

OMB can order a pause on funding that is committed but not obligated. It may be that the actual appropriation for new funding has not yet passed - which will cause funds to not have been obligated and were not planned to be obligated until next month. States know to contact their contract/grant officer for instruction. 

All the publicity around this much ado about nothing.