CDC's labs and data systems are our nation's first line of defense against pandemics and biothreats.

But those defenses are being weakened.

Under the Secretary, global flu sample submissions have dropped by 60 percent and COVID samples by 70 percent,

leaving us with far less visibility into what's coming. At the same time, moving experts

on birth defects in chronic disease out of CDC will fragment our response capacity. We learned during

Zika, and more recently with Oropush, that reproductive health expertise was essential in these complex infectious diseases causing birth defects.

Due to the Secretary's actions, our nation is on track to see drastic increases in preventable diseases and declines in health.

I am so damn tired of being lied to I don't think I can deny it anymore

you can't stick to your story if you think it flies.

But I'm not going to buy it anymore.

Hello, my friends, and thank you for listening to the 325th episode of Congressional Dish.

I'm your host, Jennifer Briney.

And today's episode is a bit of a

mea culpa, but also a sprinkle of hope. Now this episode is a mea culpa because at the end of

24, after President Trump was elected for the second time, I was looking for any possible silver

lining because quite frankly I was not excited of returning to four more

years of having to pay attention to daily Trump chaos, and I needed to see some kind of bright side.

The direction that I looked for for some kind of light was in the direction of Ronald F. Kennedy,

Jr. because I have long been concerned about the chemicals in our

air, water, and food. And because he was an environmental lawyer, I thought he might be able to do

some good in this area when he became Health and Human Services Secretary. Also around that time,

Congress had held a few hearings about our food. And RFK Jr. was a witness in one of them,

...