RFK Jr clears crucial Senate committee vote to advance HHS secretary nomination

The Senate finance committee voted to advance Robert F Kennedy Jr’s nomination as the next secretary of health and human services on Tuesday, as Republicans unanimously backed the controversial cabinet pick in a crucial test ahead of a final floor vote.

The committee vote fell along party lines, with 14 Republicans backing the advancement of Kennedy’s nomination and 13 Democrats opposing it. The full Senate is expected to vote on Kennedy’s confirmation in the coming days.

One Republican member of the finance committee, Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, had been viewed as a potential holdout on Kennedy’s confirmation after voicing serious concerns about the nominee’s past comments attacking vaccines. Cassidy, who was a liver doctor before joining Congress, ultimately voted to advance Kennedy’s nomination on Tuesday.

“I’ve had very intense conversations with Bobby and the White House over the weekend and even this morning,” Cassidy said in a social media post. “With the serious commitments I’ve received from the administration and the opportunity to make progress on the issues we agree on like healthy foods and a pro-American agenda, I will vote yes.”

With Cassidy’s support, Kennedy is much more likely to be confirmed. Given Republicans’ 53-47 advantage in the Senate, Kennedy can afford three “no” votes among Republicans, assuming every Democratic senator opposes his nomination. A few other Republican senators – namely Susan Collins of Maine, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska – may still vote against Kennedy, but most members of the conference have rallied around his nomination.

Before the vote on Tuesday, the chair of the finance committee, Republican Mike Crapo of Idaho, applauded Kennedy’s appearance in a confirmation hearing last week, when the nominee faced Democrats’ pointed questions about his past anti-vaccine comments, his flip-flopping on abortion access and his potential conflicts of interest leading HHS.

“He has spent his career fighting to end America’s chronic illness epidemic and has been a leading advocate for healthcare transparency, both for patients and for taxpayers,” Crapo said. “Mr Kennedy has proven his commitment to the role of secretary of the HHS, and I will vote in favor of his nomination. I strongly encourage my colleagues on both sides of the aisle to do the same.”

But the top Democrat on the committee, Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon, condemned Kennedy’s potential confirmation as a “grave threat to the health of the American people”.

“Mr Kennedy has given us no reason to believe he’ll be anything other than a rubber stamp for plans to gut Medicaid and rip healthcare away from the American people, and be a yes man if ordered by [Elon Musk] or [Donald Trump] to take an illegal action,” Wyden said.

“The healthcare status quo needs substantial changes so we get better, more affordable care to patients … The question in front of us is pretty simple: do senators want their legacy to include disregarding basic health science and instead elevate conspiracy theorists?”

Kennedy, who launched a White House bid as a Democratic and then independent candidate before dropping out of the race to endorse Trump in August, has received the enthusiastic backing of the new president. In a social media post shared before the committee vote, Trump expressed concern about the rise in autism diagnoses and said: “Something’s really wrong. We need BOBBY!!!”

For Democrats, Kennedy’s confirmation represents the elevation of a skeptical approach to vaccines and medical science more broadly, marking a potentially dangerous turn for Americans’ health.

“I want a disrupter in the healthcare system and the one leading it. I don’t want a destroyer,” Senator Peter Welch, a Democrat of Vermont and member of the finance committee, said on Tuesday. “We have a healthcare system that is not serving, as it should, the interest of American citizens, of American businesses and of American taxpayers. And after this hearing, I did not have confidence that Mr Kennedy would be the one to lead us to a better future.”