Sen. John Fetterman (D., Pa.), who had said he was open to hearing out Robert F. Kennedy Jr., expressed more doubts about the Health and Human Services nominee after his first confirmation hearing Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee.
Senate Democrats on Wednesday grilled Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President’s Trump’s pick for Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary, during a contentious confirmation hearing, hitting the former
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he wasn’t antivaccine as senators pressed on his past remarks, in the first of two days of hearings over his nomination for health secretary.
To be confirmed as health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can afford to lose no more than three Republican votes if all Democrats are united in their opposition to him.
Some GOP senators want public commitments from Robert F. Kennedy Jr. before deciding whether to support him as the next secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, signaling that President Donald Trump’s pick will have to win over uncertain Republicans in order to secure the job.
His stances, which include unscientific beliefs that AIDS is not caused by HIV and that a large number of vaccines should be stripped from the market, could have major impacts on the agency designed to protect America’s health,
With most Democrats expected to vote against him, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s bid for health secretary will come down whether he can win over skeptics in President Trump’s party.
If approved, Kennedy will control a $1.7 trillion agency that oversees food and hospital inspections, hundreds of health clinics, vaccine recommendations and health insurance for roughly half the country.
Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician and key G.O.P. vote, joined Democrats in aggressively questioning Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s pick for health secretary. He did not say how he would vote.
Alexandra Sifferlin, a health and science editor for Times Opinion, hosted an online conversation on Wednesday with the Opinion columnist Zeynep Tufekci and the Opinion writers David Wallace-Wells and Jessica Grose about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s first of two confirmation hearings for secretary of health and human services.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Thursday faced a second day of expected fierce grilling at his Senate confirmation hearings to be President Donald Trump’s health secretary. The longtime anti-vaccine activist endured more sharp questioning from Democrats and even some GOP lawmakers about his vaccine skepticism,