Washington — The Senate seems poised to verify Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of the Division of Well being and Human Services and products Thursday, following weeks of questions surrounding whether or not the debatable nominee would win the Senate’s approval.
In the end Republicans voted to advance Kennedy’s nomination in a procedural vote Wednesday, the general vote is scheduled for Thursday morning.
Kennedy, 71, is an established environmental attorney and anti-vaccine activist whose circle of relatives has mythic standing in Democratic politics. The nephew of President John F. Kennedy and the son of Robert F. Kennedy introduced his personal White Space bid in 2023. And even though he first of all sought the Democratic nomination, Kennedy modified his bid to unbiased, prior to falling by the wayside to endorse President Trump in August.
Ahead of getting into politics, Kennedy labored for twenty years as president of the Waterkeeper Alliance, a nonprofit. He additionally based Kids’s Well being Protection, which has introduced prison demanding situations towards vaccine necessities and approvals, and served as its chairman starting in 2016. Kennedy is married to actor Cheryl Hines. He has six kids.
If showed, Kennedy can be on the helm of the sprawling HHS division, which incorporates the Facilities for Illness Keep an eye on and Prevention, the Nationwide Institutes of Well being, the Facilities for Medicare & Medicaid Services and products and the Meals and Drug Management.
RFK Jr.’s trail to affirmation
Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Name, Inc by means of Getty Pictures
After Mr. Trump picked Kennedy for HHS secretary, pledging at the marketing campaign path to let him “cross wild” on problems when it comes to well being, meals and medication, Kennedy’s affirmation first of all looked to be on shaky floor. With debatable stances on vaccines and abortion, Kennedy garnered opposition from either side of the aisle. Then, a couple of confirmation hearings that includes tense exchanges with a number of senators did little to quiet issues about his trail to affirmation, with little wiggle room amongst Republicans to advance his nomination out of committee.
Because it was transparent Kennedy would now not in finding reinforce amongst Democrats at the committee, the vote to advance his nomination got here right down to a unmarried Republican — Sen. Invoice Cassidy of Louisiana — whose vote would tip the dimensions in both path. Cassidy, a scientific physician, had expressed consternation over Kennedy’s nomination as a result of the doubts he has raised about vaccines for many years.
In a wonder transfer moments forward of the committee vote, on the other hand, Cassidy mentioned he would reinforce Kennedy, bringing up “critical commitments” he mentioned he’d won from management. He later mentioned Kennedy and the management had agreed “that he and I’d have an unprecedentedly shut collaborative running courting,” talking more than one instances a month.
“He would be the secretary, however I imagine he can be a spouse,” Cassidy mentioned.
After Kennedy’s nomination complicated out of committee, Republican opposition extra widely additionally looked as if it would burn up. Two senators who’re a few of the few Republicans who’ve voted to oppose any of the president’s nominees, Sens. Susan Collins of Maine and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, introduced they’d reinforce Kennedy’s affirmation this week. And on Wednesday, all Republicans voted to advance his nomination in a procedural vote that fell alongside birthday celebration strains.
The overall vote to verify Kennedy as HHS secretary comes after weeks of pushback by means of Democrats, who warned of the popular affect Kennedy can have at the well being device. Senate Democrats spent hours at the Senate ground vocalizing their opposition to his affirmation Wednesday.
Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the score Democrat at the Senate Finance Committee, which used to be the committee that voted on advancing Kennedy’s nomination, known as him an “anti-vaccine crusader” and the “least certified nominee to ever be nominated for a place of this significance.”
“Our colleagues at the different facet of the aisle nonetheless have a possibility to show clear of a deadly trail,” Wyden mentioned on Wednesday. “If they don’t, my view is their legacy will probably be tarnished by means of setbacks in science that can echo in The usa for many years.”
All the way through his opening observation to the Senate Finance Committee ultimate month, Kennedy mentioned that “American citizens’ general well being is in a grievous situation,” bringing up prime weight problems, diabetes and most cancers charges, amongst different stipulations on the upward push, whilst pledging to ship on his and Mr. Trump’s promise to “make The usa wholesome once more.”
“I promised President Trump that if showed I will be able to do the entirety in my energy to position the well being of American citizens again not off course,” Kennedy mentioned.
