Mazie Hirono: “in Hawaii, thousands of our keiki-- children--attend Head Start, setting them up for lifetimes of success. After the…”

“in Hawaii, thousands of our keiki-- children--attend Head Start, setting them up for lifetimes of success. After the devastating wildfires on Maui in 2023, the U.S. Public Health Service was on the ground within days, providing care to survivors and first responders. On Oahu, the University of Hawaii's Cancer Center is leading on critical NIH-funded research on breast, liver, and lung cancer, studying diseases that disproportionately impact the Native Hawaiian and Asian-American communities. All of these programs are vital for people in Hawaii, and they are all made possible by the Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS. HHS does critical work across our country keeping communities healthy and researching deadly diseases, from cancer to COVID and so much more. Americans trust HHS because their mission has historically been guided not by politics but by science and data. But already Donald Trump is taking a sledgehammer to HHS and the essential work it does. For weeks, HHS employees have been prohibited from making any external communications and have been directed to withhold grant disbursements--illegal, by the way--halting critical updates on emerging public health threats and delaying or denying funding for community health centers without explanation. These edicts are already forcing clinics to consider reducing services and staff or, worse, closing these services, endangering healthcare access for our most vulnerable populations.…”