“I have been struggling with your nomination,” Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.) told Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President Donald Trump’s nomination to serve as secretary of Health and Human Services, Thursday.
They were in the second of two Senate committee hearings for Kennedy ahead of a vote on his appointment. The first, with the finance committee was held Wednesday. Thursday’s was with the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, chaired by Cassidy.
He was elected to the Louisiana State Senate in 2006 following a long career in medicine. In 1990 Cassidy joined Louisiana State Medical School and taught medical students and residents at Earl K. Long Hospital, a hospital for the uninsured, according to the lawmaker’s website. He also founded the Greater Baton Rouge Community Clinic and led efforts to turn an abandoned K-Mart into a medical facility during Hurricane Katrina.
Two years after he was elected to the Louisiana Senate, Cassidy was elected to the U.S. House. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2014.
During the hearing Thursday, Cassidy shared stories of young children dying preventable deaths due to lack of vaccination, and expressed concerns about Kennedy’s history of vaccine criticism.
Audacy has previously reported on Kennedy, who an environmental lawyer and member of the prominent Kennedy family, and his vocal vaccine skepticism. For example, he founded the Children’s Health Defense non-profit for “vaccine injured children” and even compared some of the COVID-19 pandemic mitigation efforts to Nazi Germany.
Kennedy’s “long record of doubting the safety of childhood vaccinations persisted as a flash point for him,” Thursday, reported Audacy station WCCO 830 this week.
It was a surprise to some when Kennedy, a former Democrat who ran for president as an independent last year against Trump, was selected by the then president-elect for the HHS post. Trump has also vowed to release documents related to the assassinations of Kennedy’s family, including the late President John F. Kennedy, his uncle, and the late Sen. Robert F. Kennedy his father.
After the announcement of his nomination as HHS secretary, Kennedy said in an X post that the “[U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s] war on public health is about to end,” including, in his words, “its aggressive suppression of psychedelics, peptides, stem cells, raw milk, hyperbaric therapies, chelating compounds, ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, vitamins, clean foods, sunshine, exercise, nutraceuticals and anything else that advances human health and can’t be patented by Pharma.”
Speaking at the hearing Thursday, Kennedy said: “I'm going to be an advocate for strong science.” However, WCCO 830 noted that he “repeatedly refused to acknowledge scientific consensus that childhood vaccines don’t cause autism and that COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of lives, and he falsely asserted the government has no good vaccine safety monitoring.”
Dr. Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP) at the University of Minnesota, told the station that Kennedy “does not understand the issues around vaccines,” and that he lacks basic skills needed for the secretary position.
While Cassidy explained that he agreed with Kennedy on some things – such as the need to reduce reliance on processed foods – he explained that he struggled with Kennedy’s nomination because he needs to determine if the nominee would be willing to support vaccines and immunizations. He alleged that Kennedy uses “selective evidence to cast doubt” on vaccine safety and efficacy.
“Does a 70-year-old man who spent decades criticizing vaccines and financially 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?” Cassidy questioned. “Will you continue what you have been… or will you turn a new leaf?”
In order to be confirmed as the secretary of Health and Human Services, Kennedy needs 51 votes in the Senate. Currently, Republicans have the majority in the chamber with 53 votes, while Democrats have 45. If there is a tie vote, Republican Vice President JD Vance would break it, as he has done already for Trump’s contentious pick Pete Hegseth, who is now secretary of defense.
By the end of the hearing Thursday, it was not clear if Kennedy would have Cassidy’s vote. He told the nominee that he could “have an incredible impact” and stressed his desire to support Trump’s legacy.
“You may be hearing from me over the weekend,” Cassidy told Kennedy.