Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. erupted at a Democratic congressman Tuesday after the lawmaker referenced the cabinet official's controversial history with dead animals during a tense budget hearing.
The clash occurred as Rep. Troy Carter of Louisiana concluded his questioning period before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, which was reviewing the Department of Health and Human Services' proposed fiscal 2027 budget. "I really wish you'd spend more time thinking about the American people, less time talking about whale heads, bear heads and raccoon parts," Carter said as his time expired.
"I don't talk about any of those things," Kennedy shouted in response before Subcommittee Vice Chair Diana Harshbarger, a Tennessee Republican, intervened to restore order and proceed with the hearing. The exchange marked another contentious moment in what has been a series of difficult congressional appearances for the secretary.
Longstanding Controversies Resurface
Kennedy's unusual encounters with animal remains have trailed his public career for years. During his independent presidential campaign last year, he acknowledged disposing of a dead bear in New York's Central Park in 2014, claiming he wanted to address the incident before The New Yorker published what he called a "bad story" about him. That profile featured a photograph of Kennedy with his hand inside the bloody mouth of a bear cub.
About a month after endorsing former President Donald Trump's 2024 campaign, Kennedy revealed he was under investigation for allegedly collecting a whale specimen two decades earlier. He characterized the probe by the National Marine Fisheries Service as politically motivated retaliation for his endorsement. His daughter, Kick Kennedy, had previously told Town & Country Magazine that her father severed the head of a beached whale during her childhood in Massachusetts.
An environmental group had demanded an investigation into potential violations of the Marine Mammal Protection Act, but the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration closed the case weeks later, declaring the allegations "unfounded."
Recent Revelations Intensify Scrutiny
The animal controversies regained attention this month following publication of a biography containing a journal entry in which Kennedy described removing the genitalia from a raccoon killed on a New York highway in 2001. "I was standing in front of my parked car on I-684 cutting the penis out of a road-killed raccoon," he reportedly wrote, adding that his children waited in the vehicle during the incident.
The book's author told People magazine that Kennedy took the raccoon's genitals to study them later. These revelations emerged as Kennedy continues to defend the Trump administration's health policy agenda and proposed budget increases before skeptical lawmakers.
The hearing Tuesday was ostensibly focused on departmental funding and policy priorities, but Carter's remarks redirected attention to Kennedy's personal history. The secretary has faced persistent questions about his judgment and focus since assuming the HHS leadership role, particularly regarding his unorthodox views on vaccines and public health measures.
Kennedy's return to Capitol Hill represents his third appearance before congressional committees this session, where he has consistently defended the administration's health spending plans and regulatory adjustments. The animal-related incidents, while not directly related to departmental operations, have provided political opponents with material to question his priorities and temperament as he oversees a $2 trillion budget affecting critical healthcare programs.
