One year into his first term, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s focus on autism is showing how polarizing Trump administration health policy can be for Capitol Hill Republicans.
Some GOP lawmakers say Kennedy’s interest in autism is counterproductive and could cause long-term mistrust in public health as the administration reopens investigations into vaccines as the cause, which numerous studies have debunked.
Others say that any attention on autism is good attention and point to recent increases in federal spending on research into the condition as evidence.
