Out gay Congressman Robert Garcia (D-CA) has issued a scathing letter to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., questioning whether the Trump administration’s sweeping cuts to HIV and AIDS programmes were based on science—or on Kennedy’s well-documented history of misinformation.
The letter, dated 17 July and co-signed by Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-IL), outlines what the lawmakers call “shameful” dismantling of critical HIV/AIDS services and research funding under Trump’s leadership. It points the finger at Kennedy’s longstanding promotion of AIDS denialism, asking whether his past views influenced these funding decisions.
HIV Programmes Gutted
Among the specific actions cited in the letter:
- Elimination of the CDC’s HIV prevention division
- Cancellation or delays of multiple HIV prevention grants
- Termination of a $258 million NIH HIV vaccine research programme
- Cuts to HIV studies focused on Black and Latino gay men
- A proposed $1.5 billion reduction in domestic HIV prevention funding
- Halt of PEPFAR (President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief), a 22-year-old programme credited with saving 26 million lives globally
“These disruptions would threaten Americans most at risk of contracting HIV,” the letter warns, “and many people living with HIV will get sicker or infect others without programmes they rely on for treatment.”
The representatives stress that cuts to PEPFAR could result in 11 million additional HIV infections and 3 million AIDS-related deaths in sub-Saharan Africa by 2030.
“Not Based on Sound Science”
The lawmakers expressed concern that Kennedy’s influence over these decisions may stem from decades of pseudoscience. The letter directly cites Kennedy’s denial of HIV as the cause of AIDS, as seen in his 2021 book attacking Anthony Fauci, in which he mocks the idea that “HIV is the sole cause of AIDS.”
Kennedy has also blamed the disease on what he termed “lifestyle exposures,” including poppers and “compulsive homosexual behaviour”—claims that are scientifically unfounded and widely condemned.
“We are concerned that your motivations for disrupting HIV funding and delaying preventative services and research are grounded not in sound science,” the letter states.
Congress Demands Accountability
Garcia and Krishnamoorthi are now demanding full transparency. The letter requests:
- All documents and communications related to the defunding of the $258M HIV vaccine initiative
- A list of terminated programmes and staff from the CDC’s HIV prevention division
- A complete record of all defunded HIV research, prevention, and treatment initiatives, along with the rationale behind each decision
Garcia currently serves as the ranking member of the House Oversight Committee, and Krishnamoorthi leads the Subcommittee on Health Care and Financial Services, giving their demand added weight.
“We Must Not Accept This”
“This is not normal. It is wrong. It is inhumane. It is unjust,” the letter emphasises, echoing warnings from public health experts that any reduction in HIV support services could have catastrophic consequences both domestically and globally.
With researchers now closer than ever to finding a vaccine and long-term preventative treatments for HIV, Garcia says abandoning this fight now would be a betrayal of decades of progress.
“These disruptions … threaten Americans most at risk of contracting HIV, and many people living with HIV will get sicker or infect others without programmes they rely on for treatment,” the letter concludes.
