President Donald Trump’s nomination for Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has just secured enough votes from the Senate Finance Committee to advance to the next stage.
Following the approval from the committee, Kennedy will now face a full vote in the Senate.
The 27-member panel of 14 Republicans and 13 Democrats on the Senate finance committee approved RFK Jr.’s advancement by a party-line vote of 14-13.
As President Trump’s other nominations have been moving through the upper chamber, with several already confirmed and sworn in, Kennedy’s controversial nomination has progressed slowly.
Even Trump’s controversial Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made it past the committee.
Hegseth ultimately was confirmed with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote in the Senate.
While no Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee were expected to vote to confirm Kennedy, the spotlight was on Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA).
The Louisiana physician and chair of the Senate Health Committee issued a last-minute endorsement indicating a party-line vote for Kennedy.
On Thursday, Cassidy spoke at Kennedy’s confirmation hearing saying:
“Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me.”
The remarks left doubt about Cassidy’s support.
After the committee vote on Tuesday, Cassidy appeared to have come around on his views of Kennedy’s nomination.
He spoke on the Senate floor to detail the reasons behind his vote to support RFK Jr.
Cassidy rattled off a long list of commitments Kennedy made to him.
Those commitments include quarterly hearings before the HELP Committee; meetings multiple times per month; that the HELP Committee can choose representatives on boards or commissions reviewing vaccine safety; and a 30-day notice to the committee, plus a hearing, for any changes in vaccine safety reviews.
“These commitments, and my expectation that we can have a great working relationship to Make America Healthy Again, is the basis of my support.”
The senator and Kennedy had been speaking over the weekend, Cassidy’s office confirmed Sunday evening.
Last week, Kennedy survived back-to-back combustible Senate confirmation hearings.
Trump’s nominee to lead 18 powerful federal agencies that oversee the nation’s food and health faced plenty of verbal fireworks over past controversial comments.
Democrats took issue with Kennedy repeatedly linking vaccines to autism.
During the hearings, Democrats also spotlighted Kennedy’s service for years as chair or chief legal counsel for Children’s Health Defense (CHD).
CHD is the nonprofit organization Kennedy founded that has advocated against vaccines.
The organization has sued the federal government numerous times, including a challenge over the authorization of Covid mRNA “vaccines” for children.
Kennedy, a scion of the nation’s most storied political dynasty, launched a long-shot campaign for the Democrat presidential nomination against former President Joe Biden in April 2023.
However, six months later, he switched to an independent run for the White House, accusing the Democrats of rigging the primary for Biden.
Kennedy ran on a platform of improving public health through revisions to food and medicine, particularly vaccinations.
He made major headlines again last August when he dropped his presidential bid and endorsed Trump.
Soon after the November election, Trump announced that he would nominate Kennedy to his Cabinet to run HHS.
Kennedy’s outspoken views on Big Pharma and the food industry have also sparked controversy, particularly among Democrats, their corporate media allies, and their pharmaceutical industry sponsors.
He vows to shift the focus of the agencies he would oversee toward the promotion of a healthy lifestyle, including overhauling dietary guidelines, taking aim at ultra-processed foods, and getting to the root causes of chronic diseases.
“Our country is not going to be destroyed because we get the marginal tax rate wrong,” Kennedy said Thursday.
“It is going to be destroyed if we get this issue wrong,” he added pointing to chronic diseases.
“And I am in a unique position to be able to stop this epidemic.”
With Republicans controlling the Senate by a 53-47 majority, Kennedy can only afford to lose the support of three GOP senators if Democrats unite against his confirmation on the floor of the chamber.