Date set for Robert F Kennedy Jr's Health secretary confirmation hearings
The Senate committees on health and finance have announced the upcoming hearing dates for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s bid to be the next secretary of Health and Human Services.
The Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary nominee will participate in hearings with two committees, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) and the Senate Committee on Finance. The first hearing will occur next week, on Wednesday, in front of the Senate finance committee, which oversees HHS. The Senate's chief committee covering issues tied to health and healthcare, the HELP committee, will probe Kennedy the following day, on Thursday.
While Kennedy will face questions from both committees, only the Senate finance committee will vote to advance Kennedy to a full Senate floor vote that will ultimately decide whether he gets confirmed.
Kennedy's nomination could face opposition, even from Republicans. In particular, Kennedy's views and past statements about vaccines have been scrutinized by both GOP and Democratic lawmakers. Additionally, GOP lawmakers have been concerned about Kennedy's pro-abortion views that he has espoused in the past and his potential impact on the agriculture sector.
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In an interview with "Fox News Sunday" earlier this month, Louisiana GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, the top lawmaker on the Senate HELP committee, said Kennedy was "wrong" on vaccinations. One example that has been raised was Kennedy's alleged efforts, which he has denied, to promote doubts around vaccine efficacy during a 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa. Those efforts included a letter Kennedy sent to the country's prime minister, as chairman of Children's Health Defense, suggesting that the measles vaccine could have potentially exacerbated the outbreak.
In the past, Kennedy has also suggested that vaccines can be linked to autism.
"The scientific research has been done and the results are clear – vaccines do not cause autism," Autism Science Foundation President Alison Singer wrote in a statement. Kennedy suggested to journalist John Stossel that such studies are "propaganda."
Kennedy's past pro-abortion views, and what he might do to the agriculture sector in his push to implement his "Make America Healthy Again" platform, have also raised concerns for some Republican members of the Senate.
"He’s made some statements about pigs and about GMO corn and soybeans. I can’t believe that he’s going to have a problem with that. But if he does, he has a problem with me," Sen. Chuck Grassley, a member of the Senate finance committee, told Semafor.
Following a meeting with conservative Alabama GOP Sen. Tommy Tuberville, a staunch pro-life lawmaker, the senator said that Kennedy told him that he agrees with Trump on abortion "100%" and will have a light touch on regulating farmers.
"We talked about abortion and the big thing about abortion is he's telling everybody, 'Listen, whatever president Trump [supports] I'm going back him, 100%,'" Tuberville told reporters following his meeting with Kennedy.
Fox News Digital reached out to Kennedy's representatives for comment but did not receive a response in time for publication.