WASHINGTON (AP) — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stormed onto Capitol Hill delayed Monday as the anti-vaccine health guru from the renowned political family reintroduced himself to senators, this time as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead health care – and human services department of the state service department.
It was a tender entry for Kennedy, whose wide-ranging views — yes to raw milk, no to fluoride, Ozempic and America’s favorite processed foods — are raising alarms in the scientific community and beyond. In the Senate, he is met with a mix of support, curiosity, skepticism and outright rejection from the senators tasked with confirming him to Trump’s Cabinet.
Kennedy’s first stop on Monday came on potentially affable territory, to the offices of some Trump-aligned GOP senators, the start of a resilient, weeks-long process.
One Republican, Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, said Kennedy told him, “I support the polio vaccine 100%.” But Mullin added that their conversation also focused on other childhood vaccines. He assumes Kennedy will be confirmed.
“The more you talk to him, the more he explains it, the more you like him,” Mullin said.
The man known simply as RFK Jr., 70, is the youngest in the orbit of Trump’s rival and partner, a former Democratic presidential candidate who now leads the world’s largest health agency with a budget of a whopping $1.7 trillion -Dollar provides some of the most crucial public services in the United States.
HHS has a major impact on Americans’ lives – controlling the nation’s diet, regulating medicines, and overseeing research into diseases and cures. It provides health insurance to nearly half the country – impoverished, disabled and older Americans, including through Medicare.
Richard Besser, CEO of the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and former acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, called Kennedy “a truly dangerous” choice.
Besser said in an editorial in U.S. News and World Report that Kennedy is “a single potential Cabinet member who could do the greatest harm to the lives of the American people.”
Before Kennedy’s arrival, he received advice from an crucial voice: outgoing Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell, a childhood polio survivor who warned the candidate about anti-vaccine views.
“Anyone seeking Senate approval to serve in the new administration would do well to avoid even the appearance of a connection to such efforts,” McConnell said recently.
Trump said during his own news conference on Monday that he was a “strong believer” in polio vaccines and was trying to curb fears about Kennedy by saying he would be “much less radical” than people think.
The recent GOP leader, Sen. John Thune of South Dakota, said Kennedy needed to address questions about his views on the polio vaccine and other issues.
“Well, I think he has to deal with it,” Thune said. “We’ll find out.”
But hardline Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, a House member who does not have a vote in the confirmation process, was instrumental in supporting and amplifying Kennedy’s views on vaccines.
At the Capitol on Monday, Republican senators said they wanted to hear more about Kennedy’s views.
“I’m open,” said Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina. But “if you come and say I won’t consider myself successful if I don’t stop these vaccines, that could be problematic.”
Kennedy’s nomination will test the country’s emerging political realignment as Trump expands his support base to include former Democratic voters who move elsewhere. Kennedy’s views met with approval and opposition on both sides of the political spectrum.
In particular, Kennedy’s ideas for ridding the nation’s food of additives have drawn interest, if not support, from some Democrats, but his criticism of key agricultural interests has also raised concerns among the agricultural industry.
Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley says he is interested in what Kennedy says about pigs “because Iowa is the largest producer of pigs.”
Other Trump candidates are also expected back on Capitol Hill this week. The president-elect’s picks for Pete Hegseth for defense secretary, Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence, Kash Patel for FBI director and others are encountering turmoil among cautious senators.
With Republicans taking control of the Senate in the recent year, Trump’s nominees have a path to confirmation. But with a majority of just 53-47, each candidate stands to lose only a handful of GOP supporters in the face of Democratic opposition.
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Associated Press writers Amanda Seitz and Stephen Groves contributed to this report
