Feb. 12 (UPI) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is one step closer to leading the nation’s health department.
On Wednesday, the Senate voted 53-47 along party lines to invoke cloture and end debate on President Donald Trump’s nomination of Kennedy to to run the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
It sets up Kennedy for his likely confirmation vote Thursday morning.
Kennedy, 71, has long history of anti-vaccine activism and touting conspiracy theories, which drew a wave of concern among both Democrat and Republican lawmakers during his confirmation hearings.
The Senate’s Finance Committee voted on Feb. 4 to advance Kennedy’s appointment to the full Senate. The committee voted 14-13 along party lines with the Republican majority voting in favor of Kennedy.
Meanwhile, a small handful of GOP senators were on the fence — including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell — even though Kennedy did advance past Wednesday’s procedural vote without resistance.
On Monday, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, indicated she will vote for Kennedy’s confirmation.
With a $1.7 trillion budget and 13 separate agencies, HHS accounts for more than 20% of federal spending.
Collins said Kennedy “seemed to understand the concerns that I was raising” and supposedly told her that he would “re-examine” cuts the White House made to the National Institute of Health, which she told Kennedy will be “devastating, stopping vital biomedical research and leading to the loss of jobs.”
During hearings, Kennedy downplayed his opposition to vaccines and claimed he will support the childhood vaccine schedule.
But a Democrat senator said Tuesday at a press conference that “there are political realities” but “there is also right and wrong” and “there is also fact and fiction.”
“Republicans are choosing to pretend like it is in any way believable that RFK Jr. won’t use his new power to do exactly the thing he has been trying to do for decades: undermine vaccines,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash.
“There is also people staying healthy, and people dying pointlessly — kids dying pointlessly — from diseases that we can prevent,” added Murray.
