THE US Senate Finance Committee has narrowly advanced Robert F Kennedy Jr’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to the full Senate for a confirmation vote.
Tuesday’s 14-13 vote along party lines came after Kennedy secured the vote of Senator Bill Cassidy, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee that oversees HHS. Cassidy was the lone Republican considered to be a possible hold-out.
The Senate is expected to vote on Kennedy’s confirmation later this week or early next week, ABC News reported. The nomination ‘is likely to succeed absent any last-minute vote switches’, said the Associated Press.
Kennedy, founder and former chairman of Children’s Health Defense (CHD), can be confirmed even if up to three Republican senators and all Democrats vote against him in the full Senate.
If confirmed, Kennedy will oversee a budget of $1.8billion and 90,000 employees. HHS oversees 13 public health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
During Tuesday’s meeting, Senator Thom Tillis said, ‘It is time to put a disruptor’ such as Kennedy at the helm of the HHS. ‘I hope he goes wild,’ Tillis said.
Shares in vaccine manufacturers and packaged food companies, including Pfizer, Moderna, BioNTech, Novavax, Kraft Heinz, General Mills, Mondelez and Hershey, dropped after the vote, Reuters reported.
CHD chief executive Mary Holland said: ‘We are delighted that the Finance Committee is sending RFK Jr’s nomination to the full Senate. Given the 2024 presidential results, this seems only fitting. “Make America Healthy Again” has become a worldwide rallying cry, and CHD is proud to be a foundational part of this movement.’
Dr Joseph Varon, president and chief medical officer of the Independent Medical Alliance, also welcomed the vote. He said: ‘Americans demand a frank conversation about the state of our government healthcare agencies, and we’re very grateful for the Senators who responded by voting to move RFK Jr’s nomination to the full Senate.
‘RFK Jr has been asking the tough questions, and he’s been unmoved in the face of big-corporate money campaigns against him.’
Before the vote, committee chair Senator Mike Crapo said that if confirmed, Kennedy ‘will have the opportunity to deliver much-needed change to our nation’s healthcare system’.
During last week’s hearing in the Senate Finance Committee, Senator Cassidy said he was ‘struggling’ with some of Kennedy’s positions regarding vaccines.
‘I’ve had very intense conversations with Bobby and the White House over the weekend and even this morning,’ Cassidy posted on X before the vote. ‘I want to thank VP JD [Vance] specifically for his honest counsel. 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.’
Later Cassidy delivered remarks on the Senate floor, revealing the content of those discussions and the agreement he made with Kennedy to secure his vote.
He said Kennedy committed to a strong public health role for Congress and to meeting or speaking with Cassidy multiple times per month. They also agreed that Cassidy will participate in the hiring process for HHS and the public health agencies it oversees.
‘He and I will have an unprecedently close collaborative relationship,’ Cassidy said, noting that the hiring decisions that will follow ‘will allow us to represent all sides of those folks who have contacted me over this past weekend’.
Kennedy also agreed to maintain statements on the CDC website that vaccines do not cause autism and to maintain the recommendations of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.
Cassidy said he would also reject any attempt to remove the public’s access to ‘life-saving vaccines’ without ‘iron-clad, causational scientific evidence’ indicating otherwise. He also said he would carefully monitor any attempt to ‘wrongfully sow public confusion’ about vaccines.
Cassidy conceded that ‘many mothers do need reassurance that the vaccine their child is receiving is necessary, effective, and most of all, safe’ and expressed his support for Kennedy’s positions on toxic foods and reforming the NIH.
‘These commitments, and my expectation that we can have a great working relationship to Make America Healthy Again, is the basis of my support,’ Cassidy said, noting that institutions such as NIH and FDA require ‘reform’.
During last week’s confirmation hearings, Kennedy emphasised his ‘Make America Healthy Again’ agenda and said he would work to tackle the chronic disease epidemic in the US.
Kennedy said he would implement ‘radical transparency’ in HHS. He also voiced support for vaccines – if backed by ‘good science’.
This article appeared in The Defender on February 4, 2025, and is republished by kind permission.
