Former CDC officials plan to tell the powerful Senate health committee on Wednesday that political forces have overtaken scientific evidence at the agency, threatening Americans’ health, according to written remarks obtained by STAT.

Testimony from Debra Houry, who served as acting CDC director before Susan Monarez was confirmed and then as chief medical officer, describes an agency that swiftly changed under Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s leadership, where the secretary’s actions “repeatedly censored CDC science, politicized our processes, and stripped agency leaders of the ability to protect the health of the American people.”