The Kennedy scion faces little resistance in his final Senate confirmation test. Robert F Kennedy Jr is just one vote away from being confirmed as the Health and Human Service Secretary. With a slim Republican majority, the Senate voted 53-47 along party lines clearing another procedural hurdle to advance his nomination to a confirmation vote, which could be as soon as Thursday. There remains an overwhelming consensus for one of Donald Trump’s most controversial cabinet picks: he will likely be confirmed as the nation’s top health official.
![[RFK Jr and Trump at an Arizona rally on August 23 after Kennedy culled his independent president campaign]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/01/29/13/35/SEI236824394.jpeg)
A vocal vaccine skeptic and peddler of conspiracy theories, many observers believed RFK Jr would struggle to win confirmation in the days after Trump defeated Kamala Harris, his Democratic presidential rival, at the ballot box in November. During his confirmation hearings over recent weeks, the Kennedy scion was unwilling to accept the scientific evidence that vaccines do not cause autism, rejecting large-scale studies that have found no link. He has argued for the deregulation of hospitals, doctors and drugmakers because, as he claimed, they work together to keep Americans sick.
Despite their deep pockets and, often, bipartisan support, drugmakers and doctors’ organizations have largely remained silent. The American Medical Association, the country’s most prominent professional society for doctors, has spoken on RFK Jr’s nomination. The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America actively said it wants to work with the Trump administration. Even the American Academy of Pediatrics, whose members provide the childhood vaccines RFK Jr has claimed cause autism, isn’t publicly opposing him.
It’s not because they aren’t concerned. Nor do they think he is the right person for the job. “With good respect to all my buddies, they’re making the false assumption that if they stay silent, they will get something in return,” Dr. Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association, a group denouncing his bide, told the outlet. RFK Jr’s close confidants praised his ability to challenge, as his adviser Calley Means tweeted, “powerful industries in the country and are winning.”.
Other Republicans, including North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis, who agreed to send Kennedy’s nomination to the floor in a Senate Finance Committee vote last week, said that he believes “that silence is consent”. Senate Health Committee Chair Bill Cassidy, a doctor who initially said he was “struggling” with RFK Jr’s stance on vaccination, was also vital in getting the Senate Finance Committee’s approval last week.
The congressman backed including a promise from Mr. Kennedy to give Congress advance notice of any vaccine policy changes. Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell, the Upper Chamber’s lone polio survivor, voted in favor of moving ahead with the confirmation on Wednesday – though his final vote isn’t assured. If confirmed, RFK Jr would likely have free rein to do “anything he wants” and “go wild” over health, as Trump stated in November.
The banning of fluoride from drinking water – which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention previously hailed as one of the 10 greatest public health achievements in the 20th century – “sounds OK to me,” the president said at the time. RFK Jr would head up 13 operating divisions including the CDC, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid and the National Institute of Health, and oversee a budget of about $1.7 trillion.
