RFK Jr. gets his turn in the bright lights
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's nominee for health secretary, after a meeting with Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) on Wednesday. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)
This morning is the first confirmation hearing for
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President
Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services.
Kennedy is perhaps Trump’s most unorthodox Cabinet nominee. The longtime vaccine skeptic ran for president as a Democrat, then as an independent — and then dropped out and endorsed Trump in a pretty transparent bid to land a potential Trump administration role.
Several of Trump’s Cabinet nominees have faced intense scrutiny, but Kennedy is expected to contend with unique criticisms from both sides of the aisle. And when it comes to Republicans, the scrutiny could extend beyond the typical, more independent-minded senators.
Kennedy is set to have two confirmation hearings: the first at 10 a.m. today before the Senate Finance Committee and the second tomorrow before the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. The Finance Committee will then decide whether he makes it to a Senate-wide vote.
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Here are the tough questions that we think Kennedy is likely to face:
Vaccine skepticism
Kennedy’s views on vaccines are poised to be front and center at both confirmation hearings.
The Post
published an analysis yesterday that found Kennedy linked vaccines to autism in at least 36 public appearances since 2020, despite overwhelming scientific evidence to the contrary. Kennedy has argued he is not against vaccines but has broadly promised to give Americans more information to “make informed choices for themselves and their families.”
Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer (D-New York) said yesterday in a floor speech that “nobody should believe Mr. Kennedy’s 11th-hour conversion on vaccines.”
A Democratic group that works to elect scientists to office, 314 Action, launched $250,000 in
digital ads Monday, lobbying eight Senate Republicans to oppose Kennedy and citing his role in stirring vaccine opposition before the 2019 Samoa measles outbreak. The targeted senators include
Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), a polio survivor who has
already sent a warning shot at Kennedy over his vaccine beliefs, and
Bill Cassidy (R-Louisiana), the doctor who chairs the committee that will host tomorrow’s confirmation hearing.
“Unlike some of these other [confirmation hearings] where you’re going in trying to make news or make noise, I think there are more than half a dozen Republicans who are on the fence,”
Raiyan Syed, a national spokesman for 314 Action, told us.
“To have someone at the highest level of government spread misinformation about vaccines, it’s going to have a catastrophic impact on our communities, particularly children,” Syed added in a statement.
Kennedy will also probably face conflict-of-interest questions regarding his decision to
keep his financial stake in major litigation against Merck over claims that the pharmaceutical company failed to properly warn consumers about risks from its HPV vaccine.
Along those lines, Caroline Kennedy,
sent senators a letter yesterday warning of her cousin’s lax ethics, among other things.
Abortion
Kennedy has faced intense opposition from antiabortion groups concerned about his prior comments on the procedure. Advancing American Freedom, a group founded by former vice president
Mike Pence, has urged senators to vote against Kennedy’s nomination, while activist group Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America
has said it has concerns.
But Kennedy sent
mixed signals about his beliefs on abortion when he was campaigning for president.
Kennedy positioned himself as an advocate for
abortion and said he did not believe there should be restrictions on the procedure. But during his 2024 run, he reversed course and said it should be restricted at a “certain point.”
Sen.
James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), who is on the Finance Committee, told us he has questions for Kennedy about the abortion issue.
“HHS has been the major entity that deals with the life issues, so I want to know his perspective on that,” Lankford said.
Food and water issues
Kennedy often spoke on the campaign trail about regulating companies to ensure food and water were safe and healthy.
In the past, Republicans have opposed strict restrictions on food companies, and Trump mocked Kennedy’s environmental pursuits as too extreme. Meanwhile, Democrats will probably question Kennedy’s beliefs that fluoride in drinking water is unsafe.
But Kennedy might find some support from the left when he talks about food. Sen.
Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has declined to share what questions he might have for Kennedy but said he aligned with Kennedy’s beliefs on reigning in the food industry.
“There may be some certain areas where we agree, such as curbing drug ads or improving the quality of food supply. … I can work with him on those issues,” Sen.
Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) said Monday on the Senate floor. “But on the fundamentals … his leadership is troublesome. Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is dangerously, dangerously unqualified and entirely irresponsible in his judgment.”
Loyalty to Trump
Just like other nominees, Kennedy is likely to deal with questions about how willing he would be to go along with Trump’s whims.
Kennedy’s hearing is coming on the heels of the
decision by the White House budget office to pause to all grants and loans disbursed by the federal government. The move has created widespread confusion and given Democrats in Congress a new rallying cry against Trump.
In one sign that the minority party is feeling more combative, 22 members of the Senate Democratic caucus voted yesterday to oppose Trump’s nomination of
Sean Duffy to be transportation secretary, despite Duffy’s nomination enjoying broad support previously. Some of the Democrats said it was an act of rebellion against the funding freeze.
The top Democrat on the Finance Committee, Sen.
Ron Wyden (Oregon),
said yesterday on X that he was “working overtime right now to hold this rogue administration accountable” over the budget office bombshell.
