WASHINGTON– WASHINGTON (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. swept across Capitol Hill Monday night as the anti-vaccine health guru from the famous political family introduced himself to senators again, this time as president-elect. that of Donald Trump chosen to lead the state Department of Health and Human Services.
It was a smooth start for Kennedy, whose extensive views – yes to raw milk, no to fluoride, Ozempic and America’s favorite processed foods – are ringing alarm bells in the scientific community and beyond. In the Senate, he faces a mix of support, curiosity, skepticism and outright rejection from the senators who will be asked to confirm him to Trump’s Cabinet.
Kennedy’s first stop Monday took place on potentially friendly territory, in the offices of a few Republican senators allied with Trump, the start of a robust process that lasted weeks.
One Republican, Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, said Kennedy told him, “I 100 percent support polio vaccination.” » But Mullin added that their conversation also touched on other childhood vaccinations. He predicts that Kennedy will be confirmed.
“The more you talk to him, the more he explains it, the more you like him,” Mullin said.
The man known simply as RFK Jr., 70, is the latest in the orbit of Trump’s rival-turned-partner, a former Democratic presidential candidate now in the running to lead America’s largest public health agency. world, with its enormous budget of 1.7 trillion dollars, and some of the most important American public services.
HHS has a wide reach through life of Americans – inspecting the nation’s food, regulating medicines, and overseeing research into diseases and cures. It provides health insurance to nearly half the country – to poor, disabled and elderly Americans, including through Medicare.
Richard Besser, CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called Kennedy “a truly dangerous choice.”
Besser, in an article in US News and World Report, said Kennedy stands out as “a single potential Cabinet member who could do the most damage to the lives of the American people.”
Before Kennedy arrived, he received advice from an important voice: outgoing Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, a childhood polio survivorwho warned the candidate against views opposed to the vaccine.
“Anyone seeking Senate consent to serve in the new administration would do well to avoid even the appearance of association with such efforts,” McConnell said. said recently.
Trump said Monday during his own press conference he strongly believes in polio vaccines and seeks to allay fears about Kennedy, saying he will be “much less radical” than people think.
The new GOP leader, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, said Kennedy will face questions about his views on the polio vaccine and other topics.
“Well, I think he’ll have to sort that out,” Thune said. “We will know.”
But hardline Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a House member who does not have a vote in the confirmation process, played an important role in supporting and amplifying Kennedy’s views on vaccines.
At the Capitol on Monday, Republican senators said they wanted to know more about Kennedy’s views.
“I’m open to it,” said Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. But “if you come out and say I’m not going to consider myself a success unless I eliminate these vaccines, that could be problematic.”
Kennedy’s nomination will test the country’s emerging political realignment, as Trump broadens his base of supporters to include former Democratic voters who have moved elsewhere. Kennedy’s views met with favor but also opposition from both sides of the political aisle.
In particular, Kennedy’s ideas for ridding the nation’s diet of additives attracted interest and even support from some Democrats, but his criticism of major agricultural interests also raised concerns within the agricultural industry.
Iowa Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley says he’s interested in what Kennedy says about hogs “because Iowa is the number one producer of hogs.”
Other Trump nominees are also expected to return to the Capitol this week. The president-elect’s choice of Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, Kash Patel for director of the FBI and others are all facing turbulence from wary senators.
As Republicans take control of the Senate in the new year, Trump’s nominees have a path to confirmation. But with just a 53-47 majority, any candidate can only lose a handful of GOP supporters to Democratic opposition.
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Associated Press writers Amanda Seitz and Stephen Groves contributed to this report.