At WSU in Pullman, Murray Launches Public Health for America Working Group, Delivers Address to Chart What Comes Next After Trump & RFK Jr., and Discusses Key Public Health Challenges with Local Leaders and Experts

READ MORE: Senator Murray announces members of new public health initiative NYT : A Public Health-Minded Senator Asks: What Comes After Trump and Kennedy? ***LIVESTREAM OF DISCUSSION FROM KHQ HERE *** Pullman, WA — Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, formally launched the Public Health for America Working Group . Senator Murray delivered a speech outlining the mission of the working group and then was joined by WSU faculty and state and local public health officials for a panel discussion on the working group’s goals and the future of public health in Washington state and across the country. Murray’s working group will seek to develop the ideas, safeguards, and legislation needed to restore trust in public health and build a stronger, public health system that is more resilient to political attacks. It follows nearly two years of unprecedented attacks by President Trump and Secretary Kennedy on the agencies, scientists, and institutions that keep Americans safe and healthy. “I’ve worked with health secretaries under five presidents. Republicans and Democrats. People I agreed with and people I disagreed with. But at the end of the day, every one of them understood that their job was to protect the health of the American people. They listened to the scientists. They trusted the experts. And when a crisis hit, we could pick up the phone and work together. I have never seen anything like what we’re seeing now. The genuine malice toward experts. The sheer hostility towards science. None of that is a policy disagreement. It’s a complete break from how every administration before this one—of either party—has approached the job. I’m not going to mince words here: Trump and RFK Jr. have put our public health system on life support. Trust among the public is in free fall. Our nation has simply never been more unprepared for serious public health threats,” said Senator Murray. “All of us who care about the future of public health need to come to grips with a hard reality: If we had a healthy public health system—it would not have been so easy to snap in half. Instead, the system we had before was already underfunded, already stretched thin, and already far too vulnerable to politics. If we are going to meet this moment, we have to build something stronger. And we have to start by rebuilding trust.” “The charge of my working group is simple. First, we need to repair the trust that has been shattered. And second, we need to reinforce it against future political attacks. We have to build something that can’t be broken the next time someone decides science is inconvenient. Public health policy can’t become a political football that shifts every four years based on political ideology. It has to be reliably grounded in science and facts,” Senator Murray continued. “I’ll tell you: I’ve passed more bipartisan health policy into law than nearly all of my colleagues in Congress. And I’ve done it by understanding you can’t reach a deal without trust—it’s the foundation of every deal I’ve ever brokered. You build trust by listening to people’s concerns, understanding their perspectives, and answering their questions honestly—even when that means saying you don’t know the answer yet…But we know that when it comes, we need a public health system that is already trusted, and already prepared. Not one that is warped by politics and distracted by conspiracies. Families are counting on us to keep them safe. I know—because I’ve been that mother worried about the pesticides being sprayed near my kids. I’ve been that teacher worried about outbreaks spreading in my classroom. Every one of those times—I knew I could trust what CDC told me. I want every family in this country to have that again.” Since taking office, President Trump and Secretary Kennedy have taken unprecedented steps to politicize public health agencies, overrule experts, promote misinformation, and undermine trust in the nation’s public health infrastructure. Secretary Kennedy has fired thousands of federal public health experts—including all 17 members of the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) and a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Director for refusing to rubberstamp his anti-vaccine views before reviewing the scientific evidence. Under Secretary Kennedy, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has halted promising research, taken down data for deadly diseases, refused to accurately report measles deaths, promoted false anti-vaccine information, and more. These steps have severely undermined public trust—with polls showing trust in CDC recommendations dropping from 77% to 50% over Trump’s first year in office this term. The mission of Murray’s working group is not simply to restore what existed before January 2025, but to design a public health system that is stronger, more resilient, and structurally protected from political interference—no matter who holds the White House or controls Congress. The working group will convene roundtables with researchers, providers, state, local, and Tribal health officials, and former career federal scientists; host public conversations on the future of public health; engage directly with communities and trusted messengers; and respond in real time as key public health decisions unfold. Its findings will inform nonpartisan, evidence-based policy proposals as Murray works to build consensus around legislation to rebuild public health in America stronger and more resilient than ever before. Senator Murray has a long record as a leader on public health, including; pushing for permanent funding for public health infrastructure ; serving on the Center for Strategic and International Studies’ Commission on Strengthening America’s Health Security; and serving as the top Democrat on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee for several years—including during the COVID-19 pandemic. She has negotiated and passed key public health legislation like the American Rescue Plan; PREVENT Pandemics Act ; the SUPPORT Act which helped address the opioids crisis; the 21st Century Cures Act ; and bills reauthorizing key Food and Drug Administration (FDA) programs and pandemic preparedness programs. More information on the Public Health for America Working Group is available HERE . Senator Murray’s remarks, as delivered, are below: “Public health is maybe not the hottest topic in politics or on social media—but the students here know how much it actually matters. “Quick show of hands: how many of you had to learn through a screen during middle or high school? “Exactly—that’s why today’s conversation matters. “In public health, we say an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That’s not just true of disease—it’s also true of corruption, incompetence, and political interference. Unfortunately, it is painfully clear right now that these are threats our public health system was simply not equipped to prevent. “Curing them is going to take some serious work. That’s why I’m here today. “Under President Trump and RFK Jr., we’ve seen an outbreak of corruption, chaos, and political interference ripping through our public health system. I’m not going to stand up here and list every single thing Secretary Kennedy has done to our public health system. We’d be here all afternoon—and frankly, I want to leave time to talk about how we fix it. “But I do want to be straight with you about the damage. Because it is real, it is serious, and pretending otherwise doesn’t help anyone. “I’ve worked with health secretaries under five presidents—Republicans and Democrats. People I agreed with, and people I disagreed with. But at the end of the day, every one of them understood that their job was to protect the health of the American people. “They listened to the scientists. They trusted the experts. And when a crisis hit, we could pick up the phone and work together. “ I have never seen anything like what we’re seeing now. The genuine malice toward experts, the sheer hostility toward science—none of that is a policy disagreement. It’s a complete break from how every administration before this one—of either party—has approached the job. “ I’m not going to mince words here: Trump and RFK Jr. have put our public health system on life support. Trust among the public is in free fall. Our nation has simply never been more unprepared for serious public health threats. “Losing experts and staff across our health agencies, funding being illegally withheld—that’s bad enough. But we’re also dealing with a whole lot of disinformation coming at us online, often incentivized by some kind of profit-making scheme. “How many of you have come across health advice on TikTok or Instagram in the last few days? How many of you were certain that information was absolutely correct? If you needed public health advice, where would you look for it? Would you ask your doctor? Talk to your parents? Would you check the CDC website? Would you ask AI? “This is one of the big challenges we’ve got to grapple with, too. This isn’t about the sanctity of science or how experts are treated. At the end of the day, this is about our families. “When a daycare needs help fighting a measles outbreak—that is public health. When a hospital is looking for recommendations to reduce maternal mortality—that is public health. When the library has concerns about its drinking water, when the rec-league has concerns about wildfire smoke, when the cafeteria has concerns about contaminated lettuce—raise your hand if you want to make sure our lettuce doesn’t give people life-threatening explosive diarrhea? That’s what I thought; me too—all of that is public health, and it is just the start. “ At the end of the day—public health is about public safety. We have to remember that. When our loudest public health megaphone becomes an echo chamber for conspiracies, that is a lot bigger than a political problem—it is a life and death problem. “Not every national security threat is about war or AI. We cannot fully protect the American people if we just buy more bombs and leave public health in the dust. “COVID taught us all this lesson very painfully, and it is outrageous to see this Administration trying to rewrite that history and erase the lessons we should be learning from—even as the world just nervously watched a potential outbreak in Russia. “How are we supposed to be prepared for the next public health threat when it seems like our Health Secretary is more likely to cover up a measles outbreak than admit vaccines don’t cause autism? “However, I want to be clear—as bad as things are right now, I’m not here to throw up my hands and just say how awful everything is. I’m here to roll up my sleeves and get to work on how we fix it. “ I believe with a dose of the right medicine—some hard work, some common sense, and serious accountability for RFK Jr. and Trump. We can break this fever. We can save our public health system. “Think of how rapidly public health has deteriorated under RFK’s leadership— it stands to reason that we could build it back pretty quickly, too. “But, after we do that, things cannot just go back to business as usual. All of us who care about the future of public health need to come to grips with a hard reality: if we had a healthy public health system, it would not have been so easy to snap in half. “Instead, the system we had before was already underfunded, already stretched thin, and already far too vulnerable to politics. If we are going to meet this moment, we have to build something stronger—and we have to start by rebuilding trust. “Which is why I decided to turn to some people I trust for help: Patty Hayes, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, Dr. Jeffery Levi, Dr. Helen Chu, and Dr. Vin Gupta. This is a group of nonpartisan experts, dedicated to public health and public service, with experience managing the COVID response in King County and Seattle, conducting medical research on vaccines, and making science-based decisions at agencies like the FDA, the CDC’s vaccine advisory committee, and the Office of National AIDS Policy. “I’m incredibly excited and grateful to have these individuals joining me to launch the Public Health for America Working Group. I’m especially glad to be having one of our first events here at my alma mater, WSU, and to be joined by some incredibly knowledgeable local public health experts to discuss the challenges we face. “The charge of my working group is simple. First, we need to repair the trust that has been shattered. Second, we need to reinforce it against future political attacks. “ We have to build something that can’t be broken the next time someone decides science is inconvenient. Public health policy can’t become a political football that shifts every four years based on political ideology. It has to be reliably grounded in science and facts. “Sounds great, right? But how do we do it? I have ideas already: I believe we ought to limit the number of political appointees at our health agencies like CDC. I know we need more stable and consistent funding for our state and local health agencies, but there’s another dimension to this outside of policy—trust. “I’ve passed more bipartisan health policy into law than nearly all of my colleagues in Congress—and I’ve done it by understanding you can’t reach a deal without trust. It’s the foundation of every deal I’ve ever brokered. You build trust by listening to people’s concerns, understanding their perspectives, and answering their questions honestly—even when that means saying you don’t know the answer yet. “ I am sincerely determined to talk to anyone and everyone about what comes next to rebuild public health in America. Then, out of those conversations, we will build trust, and we will bring back new ideas for legislation that will help build a stronger public health system . “I started today by saying an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That’s what this working group is about—it’s a tall order, but Congress needs to deliver on this. Not just repairing the damage but making sure it can never happen this easily again. “As smart as the members of this Working Group are, none of us know what the next public health threat will be. A measles outbreak worse than what we’re facing today? Anti-microbial resistance? Tick-borne diseases? There are so many possibilities. But we know that when it comes, we need a public health system that is already trusted and already prepared—not one that is warped by politics and distracted by conspiracies . “Families are counting on us to keep them safe. I know because I’ve been that mother worried about the pesticides being sprayed near my kids. I’ve been that teacher worried about outbreaks spreading in my classroom. “Every one of those times, I knew I could trust what CDC told me. I want every family in this country to have that again. “To the students here today: this is your fight too. The public health system we build is the one you’ll inherit, and the one you’ll run. So, if you’ve got ideas—if anyone has thoughts they want to share—go ahead and email me at publichealth@murray.senate.gov . “So, with that, it’s great to be here at WSU. This university trains the people who staff our public health system, and its research helps keep families safe far beyond Pullman. I’m excited to have a discussion with some great public health leaders about what comes next.” ###