Rep. Elise Stefanik is urging US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to launch a probe of Mayor Zohran Mamdani’s Department of Health, after staffers allegedly used taxpayers’ resources to launch a “global oppression” working group that accused Israel of genocide.
Stefanik (R-NY), chairwoman of House Republican Leadership, specifically asked whether the health agency workers violated civil rights law barring discrimination by federally funded agencies.
“The use of federal funds to support or tolerate government-sponsored activities that veer into ideological advocacy or that risk emboldening hate is a grave matter with civil rights and public safety implications,” Stefanik said in a Feb. 10 letter to Kennedy.
“Jewish Americans and all faith communities deserve protection against discrimination, including from actions carried out in the name of public health.”
Stefanik, who considered but declined to run for governor this year, noted that antisemitic hate crimes skyrocketed 182% in the Big Apple in January compared to a year ago, just one month into Israel critic Mamdani’s mayoralty.
She requested that Kennedy and the HHS inspector general take the following actions:
- Launch a formal investigation into whether federally funded resources, including staff time, equipment or facilities, were used to organize, host or promote the reported Global Oppression and Public Health Working Group meeting from the department’s Queens headquarters.
- Determine if the DOH violated Title VI and related HHS civil rights requirements, including whether the activity created or contributed to a hostile environment for Jewish employees or members of the public
- Assess whether DOH leadership or “external political officials,” such as the mayor’s office, reviewed or approved the activity, and whether proper grant administration and internal controls were followed.
House Speaker Mike Johnson also slammed the politicization of the city’s health agency.
“Instead of trying to force a radical-left foreign policy agenda, the bureaucrats in Zohran Mamdani’s Department of Health should focus on delivering the services New Yorkers pay for with their tax dollars,” Johnson (R-La.) said in a statement on X Tuesday.
The Post exclusively revealed last week that DOH staffers had created the “Global Oppression and Public Health Working Group,” which held its first meeting during the middle of the workday from the agency’s HQ in Long Island City.
“We really developed in response to the ongoing genocide in Palestine,” one presenter reading from the group’s mission statement said near the beginning of the meeting, according to the video obtained by The Post.
Mamdani and the health department have repeatedly declined to comment on the controversy — which also sparked blowback from City Council Speaker Julie Menin (D-Manhattan).
Acting Health Commissioner Dr. Michelle Morse declined to comment when a Post reporter confronted her following a press conference Wednesday on overdose prevention.
Morse, also the department’s chief medical officer, referred The Post to her spokesperson.
City Hall and the health department had no immediate comment Thursday on Stefanik calling for a federal probe of the agency.
