Kennedy to ask Democrats to confirm him as HHS secretary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s choice to lead HHS, will meet with Senate Democrats on key health committees this week as he makes his case for why he should lead the sprawling department.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who is the ranking member of the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and also has a seat on the Finance Committee that would vote to approve Kennedy, will meet with Kennedy. So will Finance Democrats Michael Bennet of Colorado, Catherine Cortez-Mastro of Nevada, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Mark Warner of Virginia, per a Kennedy spokesperson.

HELP Committee member Ed Markey (D-Mass.) will also have a meeting as will Sen. John Fetterman (D-Penn.). The HELP Committee is likely to hold a courtesy hearing.

Why it matters: Kennedy can only lose three Republican votes and still win Senate confirmation so long as the Democratic caucus is united in opposition.

No Republicans have said they’re voting no, but some have expressed concern about Kennedy’s views on vaccines, including most recently the incoming HELP Committee chair, Bill Cassidy (R-La.).

Kennedy has said he doesn’t plan to take away vaccines, but wants to make more data on safety and efficacy available.

Kennedy has met with dozens of Republican senators and will continue this week with meetings with Cassidy and HELP Committee Republicans Jim Banks of Indiana and Susan Collins of Maine. He’ll also meet with Finance Republicans John Cornyn of Texas and Chuck Grassley of Iowa.

Opponents of Kennedy’s confirmation fear he could win a few crucial Democratic votes because of shared views around pharmaceutical companies, environmental protection and food regulation.

Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, a former family doctor, is so concerned he flew to Washington from Honolulu to lobby fellow Democrats this week to oppose Kennedy.

“There has been some concern that Fetterman and Sanders have a favorable opinion of some of RFK's, for instance, anti-Big Pharma positions,” he said.

But Green says he also believes several Republicans are considering opposing Kennedy.

“I suspect there are at least three to five of them who want this to not go to a vote — at least three to five of them, and that number is probably much larger,” he said.

Green said he’s sending his message as a doctor, not a Democrat — and as someone who has seen what Kennedy’s anti-vaccine messaging did in Samoa. More than 80 people died of measles in the U.S. territory in 2019 after anti-vaccine activists stoked unfounded fears about vaccine safety and vaccination rates dropped.

“We had to watch children die,” Green said, blaming Kennedy for helping to drive down trust in the measles vaccine.

What’s next: A Finance Committee confirmation hearing is expected in the coming weeks.