Senate Confirms RFK Jr. as HHS Secretary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during the Senate Finance hearing.

In what was seen as a forgone conclusion, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed by the U.S. Senate to be the new HHS Secretary in a 52-to-48 vote. As expected, the vote was mostly along party lines, with Democrat senators voting no and Republican Senators voting yes to support Kennedy’s confirmation.

Mitch McConnell, a Republican from Kentucky, however, voted against confirming Kennedy. (McConnell has also voted against President Donald Trump’s nominees Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence and Pete Hegseth for Defense secretary.)

Those voting yes include Louisiana Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy. During the Senate Finance committee hearing, Cassidy said he was struggling with the decision of whether to support Kennedy, someone who won’t accept the vaccine evidence that already exists. in the end, he supported moving the vote forward and before the full Senate.

Before the vote, Sen. Mike Crapo, an Idaho Republican, assured the Senate that Republican lawmakers do not want to take healthcare away from people. “We're not going to take healthcare away from children. We're not going to take healthcare away from adults, from seniors or middle aged people. We are not going attack the benefits that people get under Medicare. Frankly, we will reform some of the spending, yes, but we will not do all of the terrible things that are being spun up to try to attack this effort to control the excessive spending in our government.”

Chuck Shumer, a Democrat from New York, called Kennedy a “wildly unqualified conspiracy theorist” who should not be protecting the health of Americans. “My colleagues on the other side, you know are not putting your constituents, their health, their families first when you vote yes.”

Kennedy’s unlikely journey from independent presidential candidate to HHS secretary began in August 2024 when he suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump. At a climatic campaign rally at Madison Square Garden in October, Trump said about Kennedy to a roaring crowd: “I am going to let him go wild on health. I going to let him go wild on the food. I am going to let him go wild on medicines.”

After starting his career as an environmental lawyer who focused on cleaning on the Hudson River, the 71-year-old scion of the famous Kennedy political family, shifted his attention to vaccines. He founded and chaired Children’s Health Defense, a group that has challenged the efficacy and safety of vaccines. Kennedy has softened his stance and rhetoric on vaccines since Trump nominated him for HHS secretary in November, saying he is not antivaccine and emphasizing his less controversial ideas the dangers of food additives and healthful eating and the role they play in chronic disease.

But during his Senate confirmation hearings before the finance and health committees late last month. Kennedy gave qualified answers to questions about whether he thinks vaccines cause autism. The chair of health committee, Sen. Cassidy, who as a gastroenterologist led hepatitis B vaccination campaigns, in Baton Rouge, expressed reservations about Kennedy because of Kennedy’s views on vaccines. But Cassidy ended up supporting his nomination after he said he gotten commitments from Kennedy that as HHS secretary won’t change statements about vaccine safety on federal government websites.

During his confirmation hearing, under questioning from Democrats, Kennedy sometimes gave confusing answers to questions about Medicare, Medicare Advantage and Medicaid. However, he said he was a member of Medicare Advantage plan and endorsed the program. He also spoke about the moving from fee-for-service payment to value-based care.