OAN Staff Abril Elfi
11:24 AM – Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is set to advance to a full Senate vote in his bid to become the new Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, after clearing the key Senate committee.
On Tuesday, the 27-member panel of 14 Republicans and 13 Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee approved Kennedy’s advancement — in a vote of 14-13.
While no Democrats on the committee were expected to vote in favor of Kennedy, the spotlight was on GOP Senator Bill Cassidy, a chair of the Senate Health Committee and a Louisiana-based physician.
Before the vote, Cassidy issued a last minute endorsement, indicating a party line vote for Kennedy.
“Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,” Cassidy told Kennedy at the end of Thursday’s confirmation hearing.
Kennedy dropped out of the presidential race in August 2024 — endorsing President Donald Trump. Trump announced soon after the November election that he would nominate Kennedy to his Cabinet.
The HHS nominee has expressed that he is aiming to shift the focus of the agencies he would oversee toward promotion of a healthier lifestyle, including overhauling out-of-date guidelines and taking aim at ultra-processed foods and other root causes of chronic diseases.
“Our country is not going to be destroyed because we get the marginal tax rate wrong. It is going to be destroyed if we get this issue wrong,” Kennedy said Thursday as he pointed to chronic diseases. “And I am in a unique position to be able to stop this epidemic.”
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