WASHINGTON — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to win confirmation to head the Department of Health and Human Services after his nomination cleared the Senate Finance Committee Tuesday and a key Republican senator assented to his confirmation.
The committee voted for RFK Jr. 14-13 along party lines, sending his nomination to the Senate floor for a vote, probably next week. Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy (La.) joined all other Republicans on the committee in voting yes, and said in a speech following that vote that he would support RFK Jr.’s confirmation.
It had not been clear how Cassidy, a physician who expressed misgivings about RFK Jr. last week, would vote. Republicans have only one more member on the committee than Democrats, so Cassidy had the power to decide the vote. No Republican senators have said they will vote against Kennedy.
“My expectation that we can have a great working relationship to make America healthy again is the basis of my support,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy said that RFK Jr. and the Trump administration had committed to him that they would protect vaccines in order to secure his vote. In his speech, the senator outlined an array of commitments he said they’d made, such as maintaining a key federal vaccine advisory board, working within the current vaccine approval and safety system, and giving Cassidy input into HHS hiring decisions.
RFK Jr. and Cassidy plan to meet multiple times a month, and RFK Jr. will update the Senate’s health committee quarterly, the senator said.
“I will use my authority as Senate committee chair to rebuff any attempt to remove the public’s access to lifesaving vaccines,” Cassidy said. “I will watch carefully for any effort to wrongfully sow any fear about vaccines.”
RFK Jr. has made sweeping promises to focus HHS on addressing rising rates of chronic disease by reorienting scientific research and strengthening food regulations.
That includes regulating ultra-processed foods, firing government employees, stripping vaccine makers of legal protections, purging the department of what he describes as conflict of interest issues, and promoting alternative foods and therapies including raw milk and psychedelics, and pushing to ban water fluoridation.
During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy said he would initiate studies into the safety of the abortion pill mifepristone and continue Medicare’s drug price negotiation program. He declined to back off his past criticism of vaccines in the hearings.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) said he was voting for Kennedy because he wanted the nominee to use his “legal mind” to improve Medicare and Medicaid, food safety, school meals, drug prices, and health care supply chains.
“I hope he goes wild and actually finds a way to reduce the cost of health care,” Tillis said.
However, Tillis warned that he would not condone any attempts by Kennedy to undermine “the gold standard” of science at federal health agencies, or oppose vaccines that have been proven safe. Such actions would land Kennedy back in front of the committee, Tillis said.
Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said Kennedy had responded to hundreds of questions during his vetting process, and gone “beyond what is required” by the government in amending his ethics disclosures pertaining to vaccine litigation fees. Kennedy said he would give his adult son any legal fees from cases related to Merck’s Gardasil HPV vaccine, after some senators raised concerns that he would retain his financial interest in the litigation.
On Tuesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who voted against RFK Jr., said her concerns about conflicts of interest were not assuaged. She said she was still troubled by how Kennedy could limit the availability of vaccines by, for example, stripping away companies’ liability protections — an action he has expressed support for in the past. Other Democrats called Kennedy unqualified for the role.
Cassidy’s decision to vote yes on Kennedy came as something of a surprise, though Trump’s nominees have generally been winning support from Republicans. Cassidy had said last week that his dual roles as politician and physician put him in a bind, and hadn’t indicated his support until just before the vote.
During the health committee hearing on RFK Jr.’s nomination, Cassidy explained his situation. Should he help President Trump get his Cabinet in place, or should he vote against someone who might discourage people from vaccinating their kids? Yet another consideration he voiced: Should he help Trump avoid the backlash that could result from unvaccinated kids dying?
“That’s my dilemma, man,” he told Kennedy.
On Tuesday, Cassidy returned to that dilemma in his remarks on the Senate floor.. He said he received hundreds of calls from RFK Jr.’s supporters and detractors ahead of the vote. The most convincing opponents, he said, were pediatricians.
Cassidy said he shared their concerns about vaccine misinformation leading to falling immunization rates and unnecessary deaths of children.
“Children are now contracting diseases that they would not have contracted if the child was vaccinated,” Cassidy said.
But ultimately, RFK Jr.’s private assurances won out, he said.