Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has moved one step closer to becoming the top health official in the country.
Despite concerns during confirmation hearings about his skepticism and misleading statements about the safety and efficiency of vaccines, the Senate Committee on Finance advanced Kennedy’s nomination to secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services.
The vote to send his nomination to the Senate was 14-13, across party lines.
Prior to the vote, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) said Kennedy, an environmental lawyer, has spent his career fighting to end America’s chronic illness epidemic and has been a leading advocate for health care transparency, both for patients and for taxpayers. If confirmed, Crapo said he will have the opportunity to deliver needed change to the country’s health care system.
But Senator Ron Wyden (D–Ore.), who serves as the ranking member of the committee, voiced his opposition to the nomination. Kennedy, he said, has made 114 separate appearances in the last four years where we stated antivaccine views or spread misinformation of the efficacy of vaccines, 36 of those instances directly linked vaccines to autism. In addition, Wyden said Kennedy failed during the hearings to have a basic understanding of Medicare and Medicaid programs that he will be tasked to oversee.
“Today we will make a judgment about science in this country, decisions that will impact health and wellbeing of Americans for years to come,” Wyden said, adding that he agrees that health care status quo needs substantial changes to provide better and more affordable care to patients. But he asked, “do senators want their legacy to be disregarding basic health science and elevating conspiracy theorists?"
Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician, said last week during the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee confirmation hearing that he was struggling over the nomination because he knows that vaccines save lives. But ultimately, he voted in favor of advancing the nomination to the full Senate. In a statement on X prior to the vote, Cassidy explained his decision.
"I’ve had very intense conversations with Bobby and the White House over the weekend and even this morning," he said. "I want to thank VP JD 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."