Observe reside updates on RFK Jr.’s well being secretary affirmation hearings.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose antipathy towards vaccines has raised alarms amongst well being specialists and galvanized the “medical freedom” motion, will testify Wednesday on the first of two Senate committee hearings as he seeks to turn into the nation’s well being secretary.
Till now, Mr. Kennedy has had solely closed-door conferences with senators. His look Wednesday earlier than the Senate Committee on Finance, which is about for 10 a.m. Japanese, might be excessive profile and excessive stakes, one half Washington theater and one half substantive debate.
Mr. Kennedy’s unorthodox views on a variety of issues — from vaccines, to fluoridated water (he opposes it) to uncooked milk (he embraces it, although federal regulators say it’s harmful) have made him certainly one of President Trump’s most polarizing cupboard picks. He has recently shifted his emphasis away from vaccines and towards consensus concepts like combating the nation’s persistent illness epidemic and curbing ultra-processed meals from the American eating regimen.
In a Senate the place Republicans maintain a slim majority, Mr. Kennedy can afford to lose the assist of simply three senators when his nomination comes earlier than the total physique of lawmakers for a vote.
A lot of Republican senators have been noncommittal about him. They embody Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a polio survivor and former Republican chief, and Invoice Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician who leads the Senate Committee on Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions. Mr. Kennedy will seem earlier than that committee on Thursday. (The Senate Finance Committee will make the choice on whether or not Mr. Kennedy’s nomination strikes ahead to a full vote, nevertheless.)
Wednesday’s listening to comes a day after Mr. Kennedy’s cousin, Caroline, launched a letter casting him as a charismatic “predator” who led his siblings and cousins down “a path of drug addiction,” and whose views about vaccines make him unfit for the secretary’s place. Mr. Kennedy has spoken overtly about recovering from heroin dependancy.
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