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The Senate on Thursday confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Well being and Human Providers (HHS) secretary in President Donald Trump’s cupboard.
The Republican-controlled Senate voted 52-48 practically solely alongside celebration strains to substantiate Kennedy. The ultimate showdown over his controversial nomination was set in movement hours earlier, after one other celebration line vote on Wednesday afternoon which began the clock ticking towards the affirmation roll name.
Kennedy, the well-known vaccine skeptic and environmental crusader who ran for the White Home in 2024 earlier than ending his bid and endorsing Trump, wanted a easy majority to be confirmed by the Senate.
Sen. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky was the one Republican to vote towards Kennedy’s nomination. McConnell, the previous longtime GOP Senate chief, suffered from polio as a baby and is a serious proponent of vaccines.
TRUMP HEALTH SECRETARY NOMINEE RFK JR. SURVIVES HEATED HEARINGS
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee to function secretary of Well being and Human Providers, testifies throughout a Senate Committee on Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions listening to for his pending affirmation on Capitol Hill on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (AP Photograph/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Kennedy survived back-to-back flamable Senate affirmation hearings late final month, when Trump’s nominee to steer 18 highly effective federal businesses that oversee the nation’s meals and well being confronted loads of verbal fireworks over previous controversial feedback, together with his repeated claims in recent times linking vaccines to autism, which have been debunked by scientific analysis.
Through the hearings, Democrats additionally spotlighted Kennedy’s service for years as chair or chief authorized counsel for Youngsters’s Well being Protection, the nonprofit group he based that has advocated towards vaccines and sued the federal authorities quite a few instances, together with a problem over the authorization of the COVID-19 vaccine for kids.
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With Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee voting to not advance Kennedy, the highlight was on Sen. Invoice Cassidy, R-La., a doctor and chair of the Senate Committee on Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions (HELP).
Cassidy issued a final minute endorsement earlier than the committee stage vote, giving Kennedy a party-line 14-13 victory to advance his affirmation to the complete Senate.
Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., middle, President Donald Trump’s nominee to function secretary of Well being and Human Providers, talks with Committee Chairman Sen. Invoice Cassidy, R-La., left, following his testimony throughout a Senate Committee on Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions listening to for his pending affirmation on Capitol Hill on Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025 in Washington, D.C. (AP Photograph/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Cassidy had emphasised throughout Kennedy’s affirmation hearings that “your previous of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or deceptive arguments considerations me,” which left doubt about his help.
Nevertheless, after talking once more with the nominee, Cassidy rattled off a protracted checklist of commitments Kennedy made to him, together with quarterly hearings earlier than the HELP Committee; conferences a number of instances per thirty days; that HELP Committee can select representatives on boards or commissions reviewing vaccine security; and a 30-day discover to the committee, plus a listening to, for any adjustments in vaccine security evaluations.
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“These commitments, and my expectation that we are able to have an excellent working relationship to make America wholesome once more, is the premise of my help,” the senator mentioned.
RFK Jr. and Trump cut up picture (Getty Pictures)
Earlier this week, one other Republican senator who had reservations concerning Kennedy’s affirmation introduced help for the nominee.
“After intensive private and non-private questioning and a radical examination of his nomination, I’ll help Robert F. Kennedy Jr.,” GOP Sen. Susan Collins of Maine introduced on Tuesday.
One other Republican who was on the fence, Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, additionally voted to advance Kennedy’s nomination.
Murkowski famous that she continues “to have considerations about Mr. Kennedy’s views on vaccines and his selective interpretation of scientific research,” however that the nominee “has made quite a few commitments to me and my colleagues, promising to work with Congress to make sure public entry to info and to base vaccine suggestions on data-driven, evidence-based, and medically sound analysis.”
Former longtime Senate GOP chief Sen. Mitch McConnell, a serious proponent of vaccines, additionally voted to advance Kennedy’s nomination.
Kennedy, whose outspoken views on Huge Pharma and the meals business have additionally sparked controversy, has mentioned he goals to shift the main focus of the businesses he would oversee towards promotion of a wholesome way of life, together with overhauling dietary pointers, taking purpose at ultra-processed meals and attending to the foundation causes of power ailments.
The push is a part of his “Make America Wholesome Once more” marketing campaign.
“Our nation is just not going to be destroyed as a result of we get the marginal tax fee mistaken. It’ll be destroyed if we get this difficulty mistaken,” Kennedy mentioned as he pointed to power ailments. “And I’m in a singular place to have the ability to cease this epidemic.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks at a marketing campaign occasion for this impartial presidential bid, on Could 1, 2024 within the New York Metropolis borough of Brooklyn. (Fox Information – Paul Steinhauser)
The 71-year-old scion of the nation’s most storied political dynasty, launched a long-shot marketing campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination towards then-President Joe Biden in April 2023. Nevertheless, six months later, he switched to an impartial run for the White Home.
Trump usually pilloried Kennedy throughout his impartial presidential bid, accusing him of being a “Radical Left Liberal” and a “Democrat Plant.”
Kennedy fired again, claiming in a social media publish that Trump’s jabs towards him had been “a barely coherent barrage of untamed and inaccurate claims.”
Then-former President Donald Trump, proper, welcomes Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to the stage at a marketing campaign rally on the Gasoline South Enviornment on Oct. 23, 2024 in Duluth, Georgia. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Pictures)
Nevertheless, Kennedy made main headlines once more final August when he dropped his presidential bid and endorsed Trump.
Whereas Kennedy had lengthy recognized as a Democrat and repeatedly invoked his late father, former Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, and his late uncle, former President John F. Kennedy – who had been each assassinated within the Nineteen Sixties – Kennedy in recent times constructed relationships with far-right leaders due partially to his high-profile vaccine skepticism.
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After months of criticizing him, Trump referred to as Kennedy “a person who has been an unimaginable champion for thus many of those values that all of us share.”
Trump introduced quickly after the November election that he would nominate Kennedy to his Cupboard to run HHS.
The ultimate vote on Kennedy’s nomination got here in the future after one other controversial choose, director of nationwide intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, was confirmed by the Senate in a 52-48 vote.
Fox Information’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report
