Committee Forwards RFK Jr.’s HHS Nomination to Full Senate

Feb. 4, 2025

After surviving a vote along party lines, the controversial nominee will continue his quest to head Health & Human Services, which includes the FDA and CDC.

Dave Fusaro

With a skeptical Senator Bill Cassidy finally won over, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination as secretary of the Health & Human Services Dept. was approved this morning (Feb. 4) by the Senate’s Finance Committee and will be forwarded to the full Senate for consideration.

The vote was along party lines, 14 Republicans in favor and 13 Democrats opposed. Cassidy was the most critical Republican during the hearings last week. He said that, as a doctor, he has seen the lifesaving ability of vaccines. He told the nominee at last week’s hearing, “Your past, undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments, concerns me.”

However, Cassidy Tuesday said he had reassuring conversations with Kennedy and Vice President JD Vance. In a speech on the Senate floor, the senator said that, in exchange for his support, Kennedy has promised not to make changes to existing vaccine recommendations that have been made by a federal advisory committee and has agreed not to scrub the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention of statements that clarify vaccines do not cause autism, according to Associated Press.

Almost all questioning during the committee hearing was on medical issues -- vaccines, abortion, transgender medical care, antidepressants -- and very little on food issues. Although in the past, RFK Jr. has been critical of chemicals in food and ultraprocessed foods.

In the Senate, controlled 53-47 (including two independents) by Republicans, Kennedy can’t afford to lose more than three Republican votes. Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky voted against Trump's defense secretary nominee Pete Hegseth and have expressed concerns about Kennedy's anti-vaccine work. But with a 50-50 vote tie, JD Vance would cast the tie-breaking vote in Kennedy’s favor, as he did for Hegseth.

About the Author

Dave Fusaro | Editor in Chief

Dave Fusaro has served as editor in chief of Food Processing magazine since 2003. Dave has 30 years experience in food & beverage industry journalism and has won several national ASBPE writing awards for his Food Processing stories. Dave has been interviewed on CNN, quoted in national newspapers and he authored a 200-page market research report on the milk industry. Formerly an award-winning newspaper reporter who specialized in business writing, he holds a BA in journalism from Marquette University. Prior to joining Food Processing, Dave was Editor-In-Chief of Dairy Foods and was Managing Editor of Prepared Foods.