HHS secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is one step closer to confirmation as the Senate Finance Committee voted on Tuesday to advance his nomination for a full Senate vote.
In a party-line vote, RFK Jr. cleared the committee thanks to key support from Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-LA, who had voiced reservations about the nominee's history of anti-vaccine rhetoric and vaccine skepticism, according to CNBC.
Before the vote Tuesday, Cassidy posted on X, writing that he'd "had very intense conversations with Bobby and the White House over the weekend and even this morning."
"With the serious commitments I’ve received from the administration and the opportunity to make progress on the issues we agree on like healthy foods and a pro-American agenda, I will vote yes," Cassidy added.
Before the vote, Democrats on the committee voiced concerns about Kennedy's ties to ongoing litigation surrounding Merck's HPV vaccine Gardasil. In an ethics agreement, Kennedy revealed that he was eligible to receive fees from law firm Wisner Baum in certain Gardasil cases that it was able to win.
The HHS nominee later agreed to re-assign the referral fees to a family member, but the Democrats wanted more assurances. Despite their Sunday letter to Kennedy outlining their concerns and questioning his "fitness" for the post, the nominee cleared the committee in a key vote.
The vote was 14 to 13, according to The Wall Street Journal. The publication listed a few potential Republican defectors in the full Senate vote but said he's "on track to become" the nation's health secretary.