The Senate Committee on Finance voted 14-13 along party lines today to advance the nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to head the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
The committee’s vote now sends Kennedy’s nomination to the full Senate for further consideration.
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a physician, voted to approve Kennedy’s nomination after expressing doubts during last week’s confirmation hearing. As a doctor, the senator reprimanded Kennedy for undermining confidence in vaccines.
Nevertheless, Sen. Cassidy explained the reasoning for his vote in a post to X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday morning.
“I’ve had very intense conversations with Bobby and the White House over the weekend and even this morning,” he wrote. “I want to thank VP JD [Vance] specifically for his honest counsel. With the serious commitments I’ve received from the administration and the opportunity to make progress on the issues we agree on like healthy foods and a pro-American agenda, I will vote yes.”
At last week’s confirmation hearing, Kennedy pledged that he would expand the use of AI tech and telemedicine in rural hospitals if confirmed to head the agency.
“Rural hospitals are closing at an extraordinary rate right now,” Kennedy told members of the Senate Finance Committee. “President Trump is determined to end the hemorrhage of rural hospitals, and he’s asked me to do that through the use of AI [and] through telemedicine.”
Additionally, when asked by Sen. Cassidy if he had ideas on how to reform Medicaid, Kennedy said that “there are many options with telemedicine, with AI right now” that could potentially improve services and make them more cost-efficient.
If confirmed as HHS secretary, Kennedy would oversee all of its health agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and the National Institutes of Health.
