Robert F. Kennedy Jr. cleared a key hurdle Tuesday after a Senate panel voted to advance his nomination to be well being and human providers secretary to the total chamber.
In a 14-13 vote alongside social gathering strains, the Senate Finance Committee pushed by Kennedy’s nomination after he managed to allay considerations raised by Sen. Invoice Cassidy, R-La.
Cassidy, a physician, was the one potential swing vote on the panel. Final week, he signaled that he held critical reservations over whether or not Kennedy was certified to guide the huge company, saying he was “struggling” along with his determination after questioning him at two affirmation hearings. Along with the Finance Committee, Cassidy serves as chair of the Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions Committee.
In a press release posted on X earlier than Tuesday’s vote, Cassidy stated he had “very intense conversations” with Kennedy and the White Home over the weekend, particularly thanking Vice President JD Vance “for his sincere counsel.”
“With the intense commitments I’ve obtained from the administration and the chance to make progress on the problems we agree on like wholesome meals and a pro-American agenda, I’ll vote sure,” Cassidy stated.
Cassidy had stated he wanted to listen to an unequivocal assertion from Kennedy that vaccines don’t trigger autism and point out he would hearken to well-established science on the matter. It was unclear whether or not Kennedy had made that assertion.
A scion of the storied Democratic household, Kennedy ran for president in 2024, first as a Democrat after which as an impartial, earlier than dropping out to endorse Trump. Whereas hitting the path for Trump, Kennedy branded a “Make America Wholesome Once more” marketing campaign, through which he railed towards meals producers and unhealthy components within the nation’s weight-reduction plan.
Whereas some senators in each events expressed assist for making meals merchandise safer, two days of questioning final week revealed different vital objections to Kennedy.
Kennedy tripped up in answering primary questions on Medicaid, an space that constitutes a significant a part of the job of well being secretary. Democratic senators objected to what they known as vital conflicts of curiosity ought to he be confirmed, together with that he might not directly financially profit from pending litigation towards a vaccine maker that he would regulate as HHS secretary.
However among the many most vociferous objections to Kennedy are associated to his repeated denials of the efficacy of vaccines. In a single committee listening to final week, Cassidy repeatedly took Kennedy to process for his refusal to embrace science that exhibits vaccines don’t trigger autism.
“I can say that I’ve approached it utilizing the preponderance of proof to reassure and also you’ve approached utilizing chosen proof to forged doubt,” Cassidy stated final week.
Cassidy is up for re-election in 2026. He has already drawn a GOP major challenger over his vote to convict Trump in his 2021 impeachment trial.
Minutes earlier than the committee’s vote, Trump tried to offer a lift to Kennedy on Reality Social.
“20 years in the past, Autism in youngsters was 1 in 10,000. NOW IT’S 1 in 34. WOW! One thing’s actually flawed. We want BOBBY!!! Thank You! DJT.”
Autism diagnoses have risen from about 1 in 150 youngsters in 2000 to 1 in 36 at the moment, although researchers have pointed to elevated screening and altering definitions of the situation as the idea for that rise.
In a whole bunch of research over a long time and the world over, scientists have debunked the false hyperlink between vaccines and autism. Autism advocates expressed concern over Kennedy’s affirmation, fearing his false assertions tying the complicated neurological and developmental situation to vaccines would set again a long time of progress. They are saying that the repeated emphasis on false theories has diverted treasured analysis wanted to develop on true causation.
That autism to vaccine hyperlink had been at the least a part of the reservations Cassidy held over Kennedy’s affirmation.
For weeks, Cassidy has been the main target of a stress marketing campaign from Kennedy supporters, particularly from the anti-vaccine motion he leads. However a secondary stress marketing campaign calling on Cassidy to vote towards Kennedy additionally intensified over the weekend, in accordance with a supply with information of the marketing campaign. That included from Shield Our Care, a gaggle trying to cease Kennedy’s appointment, which organized calls to Cassidy’s workplace and working digital advertisements. It additionally included calls from docs and outdoors teams.
Beforehand, teams together with Kids’s Well being Protection, the anti-vaccine nonprofit Kennedy based, and the Nationwide Vaccine Info Heart had organized supporters to flood Cassidy’s workplace with calls and emails urging his assist for the nomination.
On the one in all Kennedy’s affirmation hearings final week, Cassidy acknowledged that his telephone was being “blown up” by Kennedy’s “large following,” a lot of whom the senator stated “belief you greater than they belief their very own doctor.”
“The query I have to have answered is what is going to you do with that belief?” Cassidy stated.
After the listening to, the identical anti-vaccine teams declared to their followers by way of newsletters, social media and on-line exhibits, that Cassidy was the most definitely obstacle to Kennedy’s nomination. On Thursday’s episode of the anti-vaccine group Knowledgeable Consent Motion Community’s on-line present, founder Del Bigtree spoke instantly about Cassidy for twenty-five minutes, urging him to vote sure.
