The Senate voted to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as the next Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) on Thursday in a 52-48 vote.
The vote was mostly along party lines, though former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was the lone GOP holdout.
The Senate confirmed Kennedy Jr. after a night of fierce debate and a nomination process fraught with fierce opposition.
Though some Democrats — like Pennsylvania Sen. John Fetterman and New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker — seemingly flirted with the idea of voting yes on Kennedy Jr., all Senate Democrats voted no on the nomination.
A few fence-sitters on the Republican side came around in recent days.
Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, a medical doctor, was initially skeptical of Kennedy Jr., criticizing his views on vaccines while lauding the life-saving technology.
But Cassidy, who sits on the Senate Finance Committee which pushed Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to the floor, ultimately came around after speaking to Vice President JD Vance.
After Cassidy voted to advance Kennedy Jr., he laid out a number of concessions Kennedy Jr. made to him in order to secure his vote. Those include a commitment to meeting with Cassidy multiple times a month, allowing him to help staff the various health agencies and a contingency that Kennedy will appear in front of the Cassidy-chaired Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee quarterly.
Republican Maine Sen. Susan Collins and Republican Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski, two other potential no votes from the GOP, both announced they would be yes votes in the days leading up to the vote.
Murkowski, while announcing she would vote yes in a Wednesday tweet, said she still has reservations about Kennedy Jr.’s views on vaccines. (RELATED: RFK’s MAHA Army Descends On Nation’s Capital — From Left, Right And Center)
“I continue to have concerns about Mr. Kennedy’s views on vaccines and his selective interpretation of scientific studies, which initially caused my misgivings about his nomination. Vaccines have saved millions of lives, and I sought assurance that, as HHS Secretary, he would do nothing to make it difficult for people to take vaccines or discourage vaccination efforts,” she wrote. She also added that Kennedy Jr. has made those assurances to her.
After the Senate Finance Committee voted to advance Kennedy Jr.’s nomination out of committee, he advanced to a cloture vote.
The Senate voted strictly upon party lines to invoke cloture 53-47. McConnell voted to invoke cloture but not to ultimately confirm Kennedy Jr. In a similar fashion, McConnell also voted to invoke cloture on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard but voted no on her nomination.
Kennedy is the third Trump cabinet nominee McConnell voted no on, joining Gabbard and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth.
The vote followed a 30-hour debate process in which Senate Democrats voiced their opposition to Kennedy Jr.’s candidacy.
Republican Alabama Sen. Katie Britt described the adversarial process happening on the Senate floor shortly after midnight Thursday morning.
“Democrats are talking their opposition to Robert F. Kennedy Jr. They’re going to talk all night but the result is gonna be the same and we’re gonna confirm Robert Kennedy Jr. as the next Secretary of HHS,” she said in a video posted to X.
The Democrats main attack vector on Kennedy was his positions on vaccines. (RELATED: RFK Jr. Slips Something Into His Mouth Mid-Hearing)
“You know, some of the things that Mr. Kennedy said when he’s attacking vaccines, they’re not based at all on science, but they appeal to people’s distrust of the standard medical profession,” Democratic Vermont Sen. Peter Welch said on the Senate floor Wednesday night, according to Fox News.
Democratic Maryland Sen. Chris Van Hollen echoed those sentiments, saying Kennedy Jr. “has spent decades unraveling that hard won legacy by spreading lies and conspiracy theories about vaccines,” according to Fox News.
Despite the opposition, Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation went through, making him the 15th Trump appointee to get confirmed, rapidly outpacing both the Biden-Harris administration and even Trump’s first term.
On Feb. 13, 2017, Trump only had 11 nominees approved. On Feb. 13, 2021 Biden only had seven, a senior GOP hill aide told the Daily Caller.
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