Robert F. Kennedy Jr. erased a key obstacle on Tuesday after a Senate panel voted to advance his appointment to be a secretary of health and social services in the full chamber.
In a 14-13 Vote according to the parties, the Senate finance committee appointed Kennedy after managing to appease the concerns raised by Senator Bill Cassidy, R-La.
Cassidy, a doctor, was the only potential swing vote on the panel. Last week, he pointed out that he organized serious reservations as to Kennedy was qualified to lead the vast agency, saying that he “fought” with his decision after having questioned him during two confirmation hearings. In addition to the finance committee, Cassidy is chairman of the health, education, labor and pensions committee.
In a declaration Posted on X Just before Tuesday’s vote, Cassidy said he had “very intense conversations” with Kennedy and the White House during the weekend, specifically thanking the vice-president JD Vance “for his honest advice”.
Cassidy told the full Senate after the vote he had received a series of promises from Kennedy, a long-standing anti-vaccine activist, including that he would keep the Center for Disease Control and the Prevention of the Advisory Committee on Immunization practices and that it would not delete declarations on the CDC website noting that vaccines do not cause autism.
“Mr. Kennedy and the administration have adopted that he and I would have an unprecedented collaborative working relationship if he was confirmed,” said Cassidy. “We will meet or talk several times a month. This collaboration will allow us to work well together and therefore be more effective.”
Cassidy has also sworn that he would use his position on the panel that supervises HHS “to postpone any attempt to remove public access to wild vaccines without causal scientific evidence which can be accepted and defended before the dominant scientific community and before Congress. “
Last week, Cassidy said he had to hear an unequivocal statement from Kennedy that vaccines did not provoke autism and said he would listen to a well -established science in the matter. He did not yet know Tuesday if Kennedy had made this assertion.
Even if Cassidy said that he had received various Kennedy assurances on support for the efficiency of vaccines, Kennedy business links with the anti-vaccine community were undoubtedly: an eminent anti-vaccine activist Del BigtreeAn ally of Kennedy was in the committee room to attend Cassidy voting yes earlier during the day.
Scion of the democratic family of vegetables, Kennedy presented himself to the presidency in 2024, first as a democrat and then as an independent, before abandoning to approve Trump. While hitting the path for Trump, Kennedy marked a campaign “Make America Healthy Again”, in which he flew against manufacturers of food products and unhealthy ingredients in the country’s diet.
While some senators of the two parties expressed their support for the manufacture of safer food products, two days of questioning last week revealed other important objections in Kennedy.
Kennedy tripped to answer basic questions about MedicaidAn area that constitutes a large part of the work of the Secretary of Health. Democratic senators opposed what they called significant conflicts of interest if they were confirmed, including it Could he in financially From the dispute pending against a vaccine manufacturer, it would regulate as a secretary of the HHS.
But among the noisiest objections in Kennedy, are linked to his repeated denials of the effectiveness of vaccines. During a committee hearing last week, Cassidy several times Kennedy took his refusal to embrace the science that shows that vaccines do not cause autism.
“I can say that I approached it using the preponderance of the evidence to reassure and you approached using selected evidence to launch a doubt,” Cassidy said last week.
Cassidy is ready to be re -elected in 2026. He Already drawn a primary challenger from the GOP During his vote to condemn Trump during his trial in 2021 indictment.
A few minutes before the committee’s vote, Trump tried to give Kennedy a boost on Truth Social.
“20 years ago, autism in children was 1 in 10,000. Now, it’s 1 in 34. Wow! Something is really not going well. We need Bobby !!! thank you! DJT. “”
Autism diagnoses have increased by about 1 out of 150 Children in 2000 to 1 out of 36 are currently, although the researchers have indicated an increase in screening and changing definitions of the condition as at least part of the basis of this increase. Defenders have called for more research to find out if other factors have contributed to the rise.
In Hundreds of studies for decades and around the world, scientists have demystified the false link Between vaccines and autism. The defenders of autism expressed their concern on Kennedy’s confirmation, fearing his False statements The link between complex neurological and development conditions to vaccines would reduce decades of progress. They say that the accent repeated on false theories has diverted precious research necessary to develop real causality.
The autism link to vaccines had been one of Cassidy’s reserves on Kennedy’s confirmation.
For weeks, Cassidy has been the subject of a pressure campaign for supporters of Kennedy, in particular the anti-vaccine movement he directs. But a secondary pressure campaign calling Cassidy to vote against Kennedy also intensified during the weekend, according to a source with the campaign. This included protecting our care, a group trying to stop the appointment of Kennedy, who organized calls to the Cassidy office and to disseminate digital advertisements. He also included calls from doctors and outdoor groups.
Previously, groups, including the defense of children’s health, the anti-vaccin non-profit organization, Kennedy, founded, and the National Vaccine Information Center had organized supporters to flood the Cassidy office with calls and emails urging his support for appointment.
During one of Kennedy’s confirmation hearings last week, Cassidy admitted that his phone was “exploded” by “a huge follow -up” of Kennedy, many of which the senator said “Trust you more than they do confidence in their own doctor ”.
“The question I must have answered is what you will do with this confidence?” Cassidy said.
After the hearing, the same anti-vaccine groups declared subscribers via newsletters, social media and online show that Cassidy was most likely an obstacle to the appointment of Kennedy. In the episode of Thursday of The Anti-Vaccine Group informed the online program of Consent Action Network, Bigtree, its founder, spoke directly of Cassidy for 25 minutes, the pressing to vote yes.