Robert F Kennedy Jr cleared a big hurdle in his bid to become the top U.S. health official on Tuesday after clinching the committee vote of Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a doctor who had expressed wariness over Kennedy's anti-vaccine views.
Cassidy, who spent decades working in public health, was seen as a potential swing vote on the Senate Finance Committee, which voted 14-13 on Tuesday morning to put Kennedy's nomination to a full Senate vote. All Republicans voted in favor and all Democrats voted against advancing Kennedy's nomination.
Cassidy chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. During a hearing before that committee last week, Cassidy had said he was troubled by Kennedy's long record of casting doubt on vaccine safety, and cited his own ethical duties as a physician.
But by Tuesday, after facing an intense political pressure campaign - including billionaire Elon Musk's threats to support primary opponents of any Republican who obstructed Trump's nominees - Cassidy said he had gotten the necessary reassurances to vote in line with his party.
Speaking on the Senate floor after his 'yes' vote, Cassidy said he had made his decision to support Kennedy after speaking with him multiple times over the weekend and even Tuesday morning.
"Mr Kennedy and the administration reached out seeking to reassure me regarding their commitment to protecting the public health benefit of vaccination," Cassidy said. "My support is built on insurances that this will not have to be a concern, and that he and I can work together to build an agenda to make America healthy again."
Cassidy said that he was assured he would have an "unprecedentedly close collaborative working relationship" with Kennedy if the nominee is confirmed, through his role as chair of the health committee that oversees the Department of Health and Human Services. Cassidy was also assured that he would have input in the Department's hiring decisions, he said.
The Department oversees more than $3 trillion in healthcare spending, including agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration and the one in charge of the Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programs covering more than 100 million Americans.
Cassidy was already viewed as skating on political thin ice if he chooses to run for reelection in 2026, given that he was one of seven Republicans who voted to convict Trump in his Senate impeachment trial on charges relating to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.
Trump ultimately was not convicted thanks to other Republican senators. Cassidy for that vote was censured by the Louisiana Republican Party and labeled "disloyal" by Trump. In last year's election, Trump won in Louisiana with more than 60% of the vote.
© Thomson Reuters 2025.
19 Comments
JJE
Dems and their big pharma paymasters really have no sense of shame.
bass4funk
He will be confirmed, no worries. Just can’t wait until he tackles the food issues!
TaiwanIsNotChina
If apologists love him, Democrats know they are right to oppose.
TaiwanIsNotChina
What was that again about MAGAs being pro-liberty?
bass4funk
Yup.
I'veSeenFootage
Remember kids: RFK Jr made a fortune pushing antivaxx theories. He gets a cut of the lawsuits. That's the only thing he cares about.
bass4funk
Can you prove that?
I'veSeenFootage
Did you even watch the confirmation hearings?
bass4funk
Yes, that’s why I ask you that question.
I'veSeenFootage
So you answered your own question. RFK JR. himself admitted he got a cut of all the lawsuits from HPV vaccines. But maybe you don't believe him either?
bass4funk
Not at all.
As an attorney, he’s supposed to get a cut from a lawsuit, that’s how they get paid or is he supposed to get nothing?
I'veSeenFootage
He's not working on these lawsuits as an attorney.
lincolnman
So Trump will get his HHS Secretary, who he has called "the world's biggest LIBERAL LUNATIC"....and a "worse pick than JOE BIDEN"....
https://www.forbes.com/sites/mollybohannon/2024/04/28/trump-calls-rfk-jr-a-left-lunatic-as-both-sides-fear-his-impact-on-election/
We should see some real new progressive and "woke" policy now...ROFL..
virusrex
The one that eliminated the price cap for therapeutics was Trump, no democrat was involved. This will increase very importantly profits for companies and will ensure financial ruin for many patients.
By saying people should eat coke and McDonalds freely as his boss does?
Probably as much effect as when he grifted the anti-fluoride movement by selling bottled water... with more fluoride inside than what was acceptable in tap water.
The importance of the news is not so much about Kennedy, that is well know to be nefarious, but about Cassidy, that finally had to accept he long ago threw away any interest in medicine and public health and became purely a politician interested in money and power even when it is clearly against the wellbeing of the people he is supposedly representing.
bass4funk
Like I said, can’t wait until he gets the keys and starts
Blacklabel
Lifelong Democrat RFK Jr.
0 votes from Democrats.
stormcrow
Hard to believe that the Republicans have put Dumb-Bell in charge of such an important area.
Anything bad that happens due to Kennedy’s mistakes is as much on their heads as his.
virusrex
Saying that you can't wait for a known fraudster to put the government on the side of pharmaceutical companies only betrays a complete lack of empathy with the public in general which will have to pay much more for even basic medical treatment.
He has not been a democrat for a long time.
Which speak very well about them, after all voting for Kennedy is voting for worse public health. This is in clear contrast with Cassidy, that even made a point to ask RFKjr to repudiate his previous claims about the dangers of vaccines or else he would vote against him, at the end RFKjr never denied these false claims and still Cassidy voted for him. When someone lies so openly there is nothing else to be expected from this person.
bass4funk
And this is how they reward you being a Dem through and through, they all betray you in the end, they did it to the country and now this is the thanks. Now you see why people in droves are leaving the party.