Robert F. Kennedy Jr. now oversees a $1.7 trillion agency managing pandemic response, Medicare, Medicaid, the CDC, FDA and NIH|Gage Skidmore|CC BY-SA 2.0
The Senate confirmed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary in a 52–48 vote. Sen. Mitch McConnell, a polio survivor, was the only Republican to join Democrats and voted against Kennedy.
McConnell criticized RFK Jr.’s history of promoting vaccine conspiracy theories.
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch swore in RFK Jr. at the White House, where President Donald Trump praised him as the right leader for health care reform.
Kennedy, a longtime vaccine skeptic and an environmental lawyer, now oversees a $1.7 trillion agency managing the pandemic response, Medicare, Medicaid, the FDA, CDC and NIH. He pledged to investigate chemicals in food and reform public health institutions.
His nomination was closely watched by pharmaceutical companies.