Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed as Health Secretary by the Senate in a 52-48 ballot on Thursday. Except for former Republican Party Chairman Senator Mitch McConnell ( Ky. ), every Republican cast a ballot in his favor. Democrats overwhelmingly opposed Kennedy’s assurance.
President Donald Trump picked Kennedy to run his administration’s Health and Human Services as the leader of the’ Make America Healthy Again’ ( MAHA ) movement. The increase of chronic disease in America and the subpar food choices that American consumers prefer have been the subject of Kennedy’s platform’s concern. Also, MAHA is wary of the fast food industry and vehemently opposed to the close relationship between pharmaceutical companies and the government-run health system.
RFK Jr. ended his own strategy last summer after initially supporting Trump as a Democrat and finally separate candidate. In the hopes that Trump wouldn’t receive the support of Kennedy backers, voting fights broke out in some states as a result.
Republicans passed Kennedy’s nomination along partisan lines earlier this month thanks to a crucial moment when he secured Senator Bill Cassidy ( R., La. )’s backing. a health professional who was concerned about Kennedy’s history of making up claims about vaccinations and vaccine use as dementia.
” Cassidy, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, said in a statement that he decided to back Kennedy after receiving assurances from Vice President JD Vance. Not long after, Cassidy gave a talk on the Senate floor listing all of the concessions Kennedy made regarding the development of vaccines and legislative access, according to National Review.
Kennedy will now be in charge of administering Medicare and Medicaid, as well as the more than$ 1.5 trillion HHS funds.
