RFK Jr. squeaks by to become health and human services secretary

The US Senate narrowly confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as health and human Services (HHS) secretary in a 52-48 vote.

Democrats voted along party lines — against former Democrat RFK — as did Republicans, with the exception of Senator Mitch McConnell.

Expressing his view of RFK’s appointment, McConnell said in a statement:

I’m a survivor of childhood polio. In my lifetime, I’ve watched vaccines save millions of lives from devastating diseases across America and around the world. I will not condone the re-litigation of proven cures, and neither will millions of Americans who credit their survival and quality of life to scientific miracles… a record of trafficking in dangerous conspiracy theories and eroding trust in public health institutions does not entitle Mr. Kennedy to lead these important efforts.

According to his bio on the JW Howard Attorneys website, RFK Jr. is “founder, chairman and former chief litigation counsel for Children’s Health Defense. He is the founder of Waterkeeper Alliance — the world’s largest clean water advocacy group — and served as its longtime chairman and attorney.” In 2024, RFK Jr. spearheaded the launch of the Make America Healthy Again (MAHA) PAC.

During his confirmation hearings, Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, who is a doctor, took issue with RFK declining to back down from statements he’s made about a possible connection between vaccines and autism.

“If there’s any false note, any undermining of a mama’s trust in vaccines, another person will die from a vaccine preventable disease,” Cassidy said.

RFK said he is neither “anti-vaccine” nor “anti-industry.

“I am pro-safety,” he said. “I worked for years to raise awareness about the mercury and toxic chemicals in fish, but that didn’t make me anti-fish. All of my kids are vaccinated, and I believe vaccines have a critical role in health care.”

He has also been wishy-washy on the topic of abortion, once saying he was in favor of full-term abortions, only to change his stance with a post on X that said, “abortion should be legal up until a certain number of weeks, and restricted thereafter.”

During his confirmation hearing, RFK said, “I agree with President Trump that every abortion is a tragedy. I serve at the pleasure of the president. I’m going to implement his policies.”

The first order of business for the new HHS secretary will likely be to tackle the MAHA agenda, namely, “[addressing] the root causes of America’s chronic disease crisis — poor diets, environmental toxins and inadequate healthcare systems” and “promoting preventative healthcare and clean food initiatives.”