By Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is seeking to eliminate public participation in many of his department’s policy decisions, a move that appears to contradict his pledge to Congress of “radical transparency.”
In a document posted on Friday in the Federal Register, HHS announced plans to rescind its long-standing practice of allowing public comment on a range of agency actions.
The proposal, set for formal publication on March 3, would strip the public’s ability to submit feedback on decisions related to agency management, personnel, public property, loans and grants, benefits, and contracts.
It also grants HHS the discretion to bypass public input when it deems the process “impracticable, unnecessary, or contrary to the public interest.”
The move comes during significant upheaval at federal health agencies, including mass terminations at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, and the National Institutes of Health.
It also raises questions about how Kennedy will reconcile the policy shift with his repeated promises during his Senate confirmation hearings to make HHS more open and accessible.
(Reporting by Ahmed Aboulenein, Additional reporting by Christy Santhosh in Bengaluru; Editing by Krishna Chandra Eluri and Bill Berkrot)
