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