Senate confirms RFK Jr. to lead HHS

Updated: 12:45 p.m., Feb. 13 

The Senate on Thursday confirmed, 52-48, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Health and Human Services secretary in a near party-line vote. Kennedy is known for spreading misinformation about vaccines.

Former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., was the lone Republican who opposed Kennedy.

“This administration — led by the same president who delivered a medical miracle with Project Warp Speed — deserves a leader who is willing to acknowledge without qualification the efficacy of life-saving vaccines and who can demonstrate an understanding of basic elements of the U.S. healthcare system," McConnell said in a statement, which was published by KentuckyToday, where he also noted that he survived childhood polio. "Mr. Kennedy failed to prove he is the best possible person to lead America’s largest health agency."

McConnell also was the only member of the GOP on Wednesday to vote against Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be Director of National Intelligence. 

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., chairman of the Senate Health Committee and a medical doctor, had expressed concerns about Kennedy’s nomination. In a floor speech on Feb. 4, however, the senator said he would vote for Kennedy after he agreed to involve Cassidy in HHS hiring decisions, to not create parallel vaccine approval and safety monitoring systems and to keep information on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website that vaccines do not cause autism. 

Democratic senators warned during Kennedy’s confirmation hearings that he said during his meetings with them that he intends to fire potentially thousands of federal employees at HHS and the National Institutes of Health. 

Kennedy countered that he wants to remove “ones who are corrupt” or not doing their job. 

As part of the Trump administration’s efforts to reduce federal spending, NIH on Feb. 7 capped at 15% the indirect cost rate for its research grants. Such a rate generally includes funding for facilities and administration. A federal judge on Monday, however, temporarily blocked the policy change. 

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, the chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, opposes the indirect cost cap and argued the move violates federal law. 

“I have heard from the Jackson Laboratory, the University of Maine, Maine Medical Center Research Institute, the University of New England and MDI Biological Laboratory, among others, that these cuts, which in some cases would apply retroactively to existing grants, would be devastating, stopping vital biomedical research and leading to the loss of jobs,” she said in a statement. 

Collins said Kennedy committed to her that he would re-examine the 15% cap upon his confirmation.

This story has been updated with a statement from McConnell.