Robert F. Kennedy Jr., candidate of President Trump to lead the sprawling federal bureaucracy responsible for the health care of millions of Americans, received the support of a key senatorial committee on Tuesday despite his history of refusal of science supporting vaccines and the support of refuted medical conspiracy theories.
GOP senator Bill Cassidy, a doctor from Louisiana who had trouble supporting Kennedy, finally voted in accordance with his party in the face of fierce pressure from other Republicans to support the candidate, including threats from a main challenge in 2026.
The appointment of Kennedy increased on an online vote of 14 to 13 in the Senate Finance Committee.
All eyes were on Cassidy, a member of the committee who also chairs another senatorial committee in which he declared Thursday in Kennedy that he had “fought with your appointment” because of Kennedy's previous comments questioning the security of vaccines and the refusal to accept the science which shows that the immunizations of childhood do not cause autism.
Trump raised the issue of autism shortly before the start of the hearing.
“20 years ago, autism in children was 1 in 10,000. Now, it's 1 in 34. Wow! Something is really not going well. We need Bobby !!! thank you! DJT,” he wrote on his social media platform.
Cassidy announced his intention to support Kennedy's appointment on social networks just before the committee's vote.
“I had very intense conversations with Bobby and the White House this weekend and even this morning”, Cassidy Written on x. “With the serious commitments that I have received from the administration and the opportunity to progress on the questions on which we agree as healthy foods and a pro-American program, I will vote yes.”
Cassidy did not speak during the hearing, but another republican, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, said that he was looking forward to seeing Kennedy to take populist questions, such as Reining in the prices of medicines and the promotion of food security. But Tillis warned that he would keep an eye on the management of vaccines by Kennedy.
“The only way Bobby Kennedy and I will get Crosswise is that it takes in the position of the safety of proven vaccines,” said Tillis. “It would be a problem for me.”
Kennedy did not attend the hearing on Tuesday. A date on which the Senate votes on its appointment has not been set, but it could occur next week.
Kennedy71 years old is the son of the former US Atty. General Robert F. Kennedy and a nephew of former President Kennedy. The Brentwood Resident, who is married to actor cheryl hines, was a democrat for decades before he unsuccessfully ran for President as an independent in 2024. After he dropped out of the race in August, Kennedy endorsed trump, a man he had previously labeled a likely “Sociopath”.
After winning the November elections, Trump appointed Kennedy to be his secretary to health and social services, leading a department with a budget of $ 1.8 billion and 90,000 employees. Among the agencies and programs that fall under the competence of the department are the Food and Drug Administration, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health as well as Medicaid and Medicare.
Public health groups and medical officials have assaulted the prospect of putting a “Child of the poster for the anti-Vax movement” In charge of the country's first research and medical research agencies.
Her candidacy and appointment were also faced with a notable opposition from several of his relatives, more recently his cousin Caroline Kennedy, who sent senators a scathing letter on the eve of her first appointment hearing last week – the first time she had spoken public of her policy.
The only surviving child of President Kennedy, Caroline Kennedy was ambassador in two democratic administrations. In the letter, reported for the first time by the Washington Post, she warned that her cousin was a “predator” whose opinions on vaccinations disqualified and that he would continue to take advantage of a trial against the pharmaceutical society Merck about a vaccine that prevents cervical cancer.
“He is ready to get rich by nesting access to a vaccine that can prevent almost all forms of cervical cancer and which has been safely administered to millions of boys and girls”, ” Caroline Kennedy wrote.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MASS.) Alluded on Tuesday to these prosecution when she reiterated her concerns concerning the possible financial conflicts of Kennedy. She said that the concessions he had made to respond to such concerns – like agreeing to hand over his financial interest for certain proceedings against the vaccines to her son – did not go far enough.
“He understood how to earn money on his anti-Vax positions,” said Warren. “He is in a position where he can affect the results by things he does as secretary of HHS, and yet he refuses to say that he will delay even a day by taking anti-vacuum prosecution from his departure.”
Senator Raphael Warnock, a Democratic colleague from Georgia, expressed a special concern for the fate of the centers for Disease Control and Prevention based in Atlanta.
“I just don't trust him to supervise the CDC,” said Warnock. “He is not qualified, and I dare say that everyone here knows.”
In two days of audiences in the Senate last week, Kennedy, who is committed to “making America again healthy”, faced aggressive questions Regarding his vocal skepticism by vaccines, the adoption of demystified medical allegations, financial conflicts of interests and political pirouet on issues such as abortion rights.
Kennedy, an environmental lawyer in the past, framed the attacks on him following his desire to ask difficult questions to powerful interests and powerful pharmaceutical companies.
He said he had sought to highlight health problems in the case of a large bipartite agreement, such as nutrition and drug addiction.
But Kennedy frequently contradicts his past positions, saying that he was pro-vaccine despite a well-documented story to question their security, in particular by serving for several years as the president of the defense of children's health, a non-profit organization which wrongly claims that infant vaccines cause autism. He also tripped while answering questions about the health programs he would lead if he was confirmed.
Dr Joseph VaronThe president of the Independent Medical Alliance, welcomed the support of the committee in Kennedy and said that he was impatiently awaiting the Senate's full vote next week.
“Americans demand a frank conversation on the state of our government health agencies,” said Varon, a Kennedy Ally and Covid-19 vaccine criticism, in a press release.
The organization said that his advocacy arm, IMA Action, had contacted more than 100,000 supporters of Kennedy in Louisiana during the weekend and helped them publicize their point of view in Cassidy.
