By Kristina Peterson and Liz Essley Whyte

WASHINGTON -- The nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Health and Human Services Department advanced Tuesday after a key swing Republican voted for the nominee in the Senate Finance Committee, likely clearing his path to confirmation.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R., La.), a medical doctor, voted with all of the committee's Republicans to support Kennedy's confirmation.

His vote followed an unusually intense pressure campaign from Kennedy, his supporters and the Trump administration over the weekend and up to the committee's vote.

To secure Kennedy's support, the nominee and administration agreed to a number of concessions, Cassidy said, including promises to maintain current federal vaccine recommendations and keep intact Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website pages that say there isn't a link between vaccines and autism.

Kennedy and the Trump administration committed to establish "an unprecedentedly close, collaborative working relationship," Cassidy said, and set up safeguards to ensure the public's continued access to vaccines.

"I will use my authority as chairman of the Senate committee with oversight of HHS to rebuff any attempt to remove the public access to lifesaving vaccines without iron-clad causational scientific evidence," Cassidy said on the Senate floor after Tuesday's vote.

The committee vote signaled that Kennedy's path to becoming the top U.S. health official was becoming smoother. The final tally was 14 to 13.

In the full Senate vote, Kennedy can afford to lose as many as three Republican votes if all Democrats oppose him. In the event of a tie, Vice President JD Vance can cast the deciding vote.

Potential GOP defectors include Sens. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a polio survivor; Lisa Murkowski of Alaska; and Susan Collins of Maine. No Republicans have said they plan to oppose Kennedy.

The full Senate vote to confirm Kennedy hasn't been scheduled but could come as soon as next week.

If confirmed, Kennedy would lead a powerful department with a $1.7 trillion budget regulating things as diverse as prescription medicines and food dyes and overseeing Medicare health insurance for the elderly and health services for Native Americans.

Shares of vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna fell after the Kennedy vote.

Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla told analysts during an earnings call Tuesday he expects Kennedy to have a "more tempered view" of vaccines as HHS secretary based on what he has seen from comments from Kennedy and the Trump administration.

Bourla also said he doesn't expect the government to change vaccine manufacturers' liability protections because doing so requires congressional approval. The Trump administration doesn't want to see another health crisis. "I feel cautiously optimistic that they will be very, very prudent," Bourla said.

A scion of the famous Democratic family, Kennedy ran for president last year and then suspended his campaign last summer and endorsed Donald Trump, saying they had a joint mission to "Make America Healthy Again."

The phrase became a rallying cry picked up by many Republicans. Yet many Democrats and health authorities expressed concern over some of its tenets, because Kennedy has questioned the safety of vaccines and suggested unproven links between the shots and a range of chronic diseases, including autism.

More than 20 large-scale studies involving hundreds of thousands of children in several countries have discredited any association between the measles, mumps and rubella vaccines and autism. Additional large studies strongly suggest that no vaccine causes autism.

Democrats on the committee said Kennedy could undermine public health if he were confirmed. He had also struggled to answer questions about Medicare and Medicaid over two days of hearings last week.

Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon, the committee's top Democrat, said Kennedy was "singularly unfit" for the post of Health secretary and would pose "a grave threat to the health of the American people."

But Republicans hold a majority on the Finance committee, and most of the GOP committee members had coalesced around Kennedy, even though the nominee had in the past voiced support for abortion rights.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R., N.C.) said the American Farm Bureau Federation, the National Rifle Association and groups that oppose abortion rights didn't actively oppose Kennedy.

The partisan divide left Cassidy with the swing vote. His position was fraught. He had voted to convict Trump in his second impeachment trial. Now, Cassidy faces a primary challenger in his coming election in 2026.

Yet Cassidy had said last week that he had been "struggling" over Kennedy's past comments about vaccines and the role they have played in making some parents hesitant to vaccinate their children.

The Louisiana Republican had urged Kennedy during hearings on the nomination to make clear that he didn't believe vaccines caused autism, but Kennedy had sidestepped such an endorsement, saying he would review the data.

Cassidy became the target of an intense persuasion campaign from Kennedy, his supporters and the Trump administration.

"MAHA moms packed the halls of the Senate and made thousands of calls," said Kennedy adviser Calley Means. "Their voice was heard."

As the committee vote neared, President Trump urged lawmakers to support Kennedy in a social-media post. "20 years ago, Autism in children was 1 in 10,000. NOW IT'S 1 in 34. WOW! Something's really wrong. We need BOBBY!!!" Trump wrote.

Cassidy said he held a series of phone calls with Kennedy over the weekend and Tuesday morning before the committee's vote. During the calls, the senator said, Kennedy promised an unusually close working relationship.

Cassidy said Kennedy, in addition to keeping federal vaccine recommendations and CDC web pages on vaccines and autism, committed to not set up alternate safety monitoring or approval systems for vaccines.

Kennedy pledged that HHS would provide 30-day notice before any changes to vaccine-safety monitoring systems and would generally speak to Cassidy several times a month, the senator said.

The nominee also offered Cassidy input on hiring decisions at HHS and promised Cassidy that the Senate health committee could choose a representative "on any board or commission formed to review vaccine safety," Cassidy said.

"My support is built on assurances that this will not have to be a concern," Cassidy said of vaccines. "He will be the secretary, but I believe he will also be a partner."

Cassidy arrived late to the committee vote, walking into the room with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R., S.D.).

"I've had very intense conversations with Bobby and the White House over the weekend and even this morning," Cassidy said in a social-media post shortly before the vote. "I want to thank VP JD specifically for his honest counsel."

--Jared S. Hopkins contributed to this article.

Write to Kristina Peterson at kristina.peterson@wsj.com and Liz Essley Whyte at liz.whyte@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 04, 2025 13:51 ET (18:51 GMT)

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