Robert F. Kennedy’s nomination as health secretary troubles key Republican US senator

WASHINGTON - A key Republican senator on Jan 30 said he was struggling with Mr Robert F. Kennedy Jr’s nomination by President Donald Trump to run the top US health agency, saying he had reservations about the nominee’s “misleading arguments” on vaccines.

“Your past of undermining confidence in vaccines with unfounded or misleading arguments concerns me,” Republican Senator Bill Cassidy, a physician from Louisiana, told Mr Kennedy.

“I have been struggling with the nomination,” he said at the end of a Jan 30 Senate health committee hearing to consider Mr Kennedy to run the massive Department of Health and Human Services.

“Does a 70-year-old man... who spent decades criticising vaccines and who’s financially vested in finding fault with vaccines – can he change his attitudes and approach now that he’ll have the most important position influencing vaccine policy in the United States?” Mr Cassidy said.

The hearing was the second in two days for Mr Kennedy, during which he squared off with Democrats and some Republicans over his past comments on vaccines, abortion and Covid-19, among other topics.

The Finance Committee, which Mr Kennedy appeared before on Jan 29, has not yet said if it will send Mr Kennedy’s nomination to the full Republican-controlled Senate, which has not rejected any of Mr Trump’s nominees so far.

A spokesperson for the Finance Committee said a vote could potentially take place next week, but that one had not yet been scheduled.

Mr Cassidy, who sits on both committees, told Mr Kennedy at the end of the Jan 30 hearing that Mr Kennedy would be hearing from him over the weekend, presumably regarding questions he has over the nomination.

Mr Kennedy’s nomination could fail to move to the Senate for consideration if all Democrats on the Finance Committee voted against him and were joined by Mr Cassidy.

During wide-ranging questioning on Jan 30, Mr Kennedy spoke more confidently than the day prior, adjusting the characterisation of previous statements, and saying he would support the US children’s vaccination schedule, research and development for bird flu and scientific data on vaccine safety.

Mr Kennedy also said he would address rapidly increasing rates of chronic disease.

“Our country is not going to be destroyed because we get the marginal tax rate wrong. It is going to be destroyed if we get this issue wrong,” he said of chronic diseases. “And I am in a unique position to be able to stop this epidemic.”

He was asked about comments he has made over decades, including that it was “highly likely” that Lyme disease was a military bioweapon. He said he never said that it was definitively created in a biolab.

He would not answer a question from Senator Bernie Sanders about whether he agreed that vaccines do not cause autism. He also said he did not know if the coronavirus vaccine saved millions of lives.

“If you come out unequivocally (saying) ‘vaccines are safe, they do not cause autism’, that would have an incredible impact,” Mr Cassidy said.

Mr Kennedy has said vaccines are linked to autism, and he opposed state and federal restrictions imposed during the Covid-19 pandemic. The causes of autism are unclear, though theories that childhood vaccines cause autism have been widely debunked and are contrary to scientific evidence.

Mr Kennedy, who founded the anti-vaccine group Children’s Health Defence, argued during both hearings that he was not against vaccines. The group has sued in state and federal courts over vaccines.

“News reports and many in the hearing yesterday have claimed that I’m anti-vaccine and anti-industry. Well, I’m neither,” Mr Kennedy said, repeating that his children are vaccinated.

The Jan 30 hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labour and Pensions is a courtesy hearing with no vote involved. However, Republican Senators Cassidy, Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins sit on the committee, all of whom are seen as potential swing votes against Mr Kennedy.

Supporters of Mr Kennedy wearing “Make America Healthy Again” hats crowded around the committee hearing room on Jan 30, while some opposing his confirmation wore “Reject RFK Jr” stickers on their shirts.

‘Catastrophic’ impacts

If confirmed, Mr Kennedy would run HHS, which oversees more than US$3 trillion (S$4 trillion) in healthcare spending, including at the Food and Drug Administration and the agency in charge of the Medicare and Medicaid health insurance programmes covering nearly half of all Americans.

He said he would follow Mr Trump’s direction on abortion, and would hire for his department those who are against abortion rights.

Mr Kennedy also said gender-affirming care for children has “catastrophic” impacts and that children are not equipped to make judgments about receiving such care. He said he would rescind a Biden-era rule that requires medical providers who receive federal funding to offer gender-affirming care.

Mr Kennedy said farmers should be offered an off-ramp from chemically intensive agriculture, and that illness in farm communities is “undoubtedly” related to the use of pesticides. Some farm and food groups have expressed concern about Mr Kennedy’s positions on pesticides and food additives.

Opposition groups have ramped up their efforts to persuade Republican senators to vote against Mr Kennedy. Ms Caroline Kennedy, another member of the storied American political family, on Jan 28 urged senators to vote against her cousin’s nomination, calling him a predator with dangerous views on healthcare.

Mr Kennedy has also faced scrutiny over his ties to Wisner Baum, a law firm specialising in pharmaceutical drug injury cases. He has an arrangement to earn 10 per cent of fees awarded in contingency cases he refers to the firm, according to a letter Mr Kennedy wrote to an HHS ethics official released last week.

If confirmed, Mr Kennedy would retain that financial interest in cases that do not directly impact the US government, the letter said.

If his nomination goes to the full Senate, he would need the support of at least 50 senators, which would allow Vice-President J.D. Vance to cast another tie-breaking vote to confirm his nomination. REUTERS