The Senate Finance Committee voted Tuesday morning to advance Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), sending it to the full Senate for consideration. The vote was a razor-thin, with Senator Bill Cassidy (R-La.) providing the decisive support.
The vote was 14-13, with Cassidy, a gastroenterologist who was first elected to the Senate in 2014 after defeating Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu, casting the decisive vote in favor. Despite this victory, Kennedy’s path to confirmation remains uncertain.
His nomination is anticipated to encounter strong opposition in the Senate, where partisan divisions and concerns about his policy positions and previous anti-vaccine statements could complicate the final outcome.
The Hill‘s Nathaniel Weixel explains:
The 14-13 vote was strictly along party lines and came despite Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) saying last week he had serious doubts about whether Kennedy is qualified to lead the agency, primarily over his history of promoting a false link between vaccines and autism.
Cassidy had emerged as the pivotal vote, as Kennedy couldn’t afford to lose any Republicans on the committee. He can lose three on the Senate floor and still be confirmed, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie.
The three GOP senators who voted against Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — Sens. Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine) — are all seen as potential wildcards on Kennedy as well. None of them sit on the Finance Committee.
According to Fox News, Kennedy and Cassidy spoke on Sunday after the lawmaker said during the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee confirmation hearing last week that he remained skeptical, and suggested the two might talk over the weekend.
Kennedy’s nomination seemed to be in jeopardy after a contentious hearing last Wednesday. Senators from both parties expressed ongoing concerns about Kennedy’s views and his performance under congressional and media scrutiny.
“I’m certainly concerned about it,” Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) openly told reporters. “Others have different concerns they want to address and are looking for public commitments from him.”
Following Kennedy’s hearing, Senator John Fetterman (D-Pa.), who was previously thought to be open to Kennedy’s nomination, indicated that his performance raised doubts about his chances of confirmation.
“I think we can all agree that was really a difficult performance,” Fetterman conceded. “I’m not sure he’ll even make it out of the committee.”
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I like RFK Jr’s agenda to change the composition of the processed foods we eat to take out the things which make them poisonous. Other nations have safety agencies which really do care for their people’s health and with the amount of taxes we pay, I believe the US should care also. But I wish he would take a stronger stand against vaccines. We are shortening the lives of our people by pumping all of these poisons into our bodies. Experts are now stating that we should avoid shots of any kind…even dental because of the harmful Mrna they are putting in them and also because of the chemicals (toxins) which they contain. With each shot taken, we introduce toxins into our bodies which can quickly harm us….or may take years to develop a cancer or other ailment because of them. No shot is a good shot. They shorten our lives (which many believe is the whole idea for these globalist elites – depopulation!)