Witness says cuts and politicization have left Americans 'sicker'

A witness in the transcript said that recent federal changes have substantially weakened U.S. public health, citing personnel moves, paused grants and new policies to subject grants to political review.

"They've taken the chainsaw to America's health," the witness said, and added that a "Senate‑confirmed CDC director was fired after a few weeks on the job" and that senior CDC leaders resigned in protest. The witness said "thousands of public health and research positions" were "eliminated or disrupted" and that grants ranging "from infectious disease to Alzheimer's" were paused and are now being politicized.

The speaker said those steps have had concrete operational effects: "Ebola prevention activities were accidentally canceled," and "USAID's disease surveillance and outbreak response infrastructure has been effectively dissolved." The witness framed those changes as making "Americans ... sicker, less safe, and more vulnerable to disease."

The transcript attributes each of the claims above to the witness; the speaker did not provide precise counts for the staff cuts beyond describing them as "thousands," and did not identify a specific new policy text beyond saying grants would be subject to political review. The number of positions, the scope of paused grants and the precise nature of the proposed grant‑review process were not specified in the transcript.

The transcript does not record any response, clarification or rebuttal to these claims within the provided segments, nor does it record any formal vote or next procedural step about the matters the witness raised.