US Senate panel to vote on RFK Jr.'s health secretary nomination

(Reuters) - A U.S. Senate committee will vote Tuesday on whether to advance President Donald Trump's nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, the committee announced Sunday.

In contentious confirmation hearings before the Senate Finance Committee last week, Senate Democrats accused Kennedy of being financially vested in the anti-vaccine movement and peddling conspiracy theories to sow doubt about lifesaving medicines -- assertions Kennedy rejected.

If confirmed, Kennedy would run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees more than $3 trillion in healthcare spending, including agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and the agency in charge of Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs covering tens of millions of Americans.

A key committee member, Republican Bill Cassidy, added to doubts, saying he was "struggling" with Kennedy's nomination due to his positions on vaccines.

In a sign of the tensions within the Republican Party over the nomination, fellow Louisiana lawmaker Rep. Clay Higgins posted a photo of Cassidy to the social media site X, saying Kennedy would be confirmed with or without Cassidy's support: "Either way, we're watching."

(Reporting by Douglas Gillison; Editing by Aurora Ellis)