RFK Jr. clears key Senate committee, moving Trump's HHS pick to full Senate

WASHINGTON ― Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's nominee to be the nation's top health official, moved closer toward confirmation Tuesday, with the Senate Finance Committee voting along party lines to send his controversial nomination to the full Senate.

By a 14-13 vote, the committee voted to advance Kennedy, who has faced intense scrutiny over his past anti-vaccine statements and questions about how he would lead the Department of Health and Human Services.

The key swing vote putting Kennedy over the edge was Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a physician who fell in line with the Republican majority and voted for Kennedy despite raising reservations about Kennedy's position on vaccines.

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Cassidy, who is up for reelection in 2026, announced his support shortly before the vote in a post on X, saying he had "very intense conversations" with Kennedy and the White House over the weekend. "With the serious commitments I’ve received from the administration and the opportunity to make progress on the issues we agree on like healthy foods and a pro-American agenda, I will vote yes," Cassidy said.

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The vote came after Kennedy was grilled by Democrats during two days of committee hearings last week. He struggled to account for past statements he made questioning vaccines and conspiracy theories he's pushed and stumbled over questions about Medicare and Medicaid. Democrats led the

“I simply do not trust him to oversee the CDC,” Sen. Raphael Warnock, D-Ga., said. “He’s unqualified, and I dare say everybody here knows it.”

Outside of Trump's Defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, Republican senators have stayed united behind the president's Cabinet picks, but Kennedy's nomination as secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services has presented the biggest test yet.

It's unclear whether Kennedy has the votes for passage in the Senate, but at least four Republican senators would likely have to vote against Kennedy for his nomination to fail given Republican's 53-47 majority.

Ranking member Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon said Democrats are not done trying to block Kennedy’s confirmation, despite Tuesday’s notable setback.

“This fight is going to go on. And I’m going to pull out all the stops,” Wyden said, without elaborating what those stops are and acknowledging that Republicans have been reticent to alienate themselves from Trump over his Cabinet nominees.

“Obviously it is a challenging political time,” Wyden said, but, “the fight is not over. We can continue this on the floor of the Senate."

Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., a polio survivor, has raised concerns over Kennedy's position on vaccines. And Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Susan Collins of Maine have showed a willingness to buck Trump when it comes to his nominees when they voted against the Hegseth pick.

Yet even if all three were to vote against Kennedy's nomination, Vice President JD Vance would be in position to cast a tie-breaking vote, like he did with Hegseth, if at least one more Republican senator didn't also vote against Kennedy.

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Kennedy's fate in the Finance Committee came down to Cassidy, R-La., a physician, who had talked openly about being torn over Kennedy because of his views on vaccines. But the vote also posed tough political considerations for Cassidy, who has already drawn a Republican primary challenger in 2026 after voting to convict Trump during the president's second impeachment in 2021.

"I've been struggling with your nomination," Cassidy bluntly told Kennedy during last week's hearings. "Does a 71-year old man who spent decades criticizing vaccines and was financially vested in finding fault with vaccines, can he change his attitudes and approach now that he'll have the most important position influencing vaccine policy in the United States?"

Democrats have attacked Kennedy for a trail of controversial past statements including casting doubt about vaccines, comparing the CDC's work to "Nazi death camps," saying it "highly likely" Lyme disease was a military bioweapon and concerns about antidepressants.

Kennedy insisted repeatedly during last week's committee hearings that he is "not anti-vaccine" and is "pro-safety."

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But Democrats have raised his founding of the nonprofit Children’s Health Defense, which has supported vaccine litigation. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., noted that the nonprofit currently sells clothing for infants with the words “unvaxxed unfraid” and “no vax no problem.”

“You say you’re pro vaccine," Sanders said last week, "And yet your organization is making money selling a child’s product to parents for 26 bucks which casts fundamental doubt on the usefulness of vaccines."

Reach Joey Garrison on X @joeygarrison.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: RFK Jr. clears key Senate committee, moving Trump's HHS pick to Senate