Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will face a pivotal test on Tuesday morning as the Senate Finance Committee votes on his nomination to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
At 10 a.m., the committee will meet to consider President Donald Trump’s HHS pick, following his hearing last week.
The 27-member committee is composed of 14 Republican members and 13 Democrats. Kennedy will need a majority of the votes in order to advance out of the committee.
He will likely need the support of every committee Republican, assuming no Democratic senators get behind him. No Democrats on the committee have said they plan to vote to advance Kennedy.
The HHS nominee has managed to get the support of two sometimes hesitant Republicans in Sens. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Thom Tillis, R-N.C., already.
However, he will still need the vote of Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a doctor who has expressed concerns over Kennedy’s claims about vaccines.
Kennedy spoke with Cassidy over the weekend, as the senator had foreshadowed during one of his hearings. Representatives for each did not divulge details of the last-minute conversations.
If Trump’s nominee isn’t advanced out of the committee, it’s unlikely that it will make it to the Senate floor for a vote.
Kennedy would become the first Trump nominee this term to hit such an obstacle, as the president’s other choices have been moving through the upper chamber and several have been confirmed and sworn in. Even Trump’s controversial Defense secretary pick, Pete Hegseth, made it past committee and ultimately was confirmed with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.
However, if he does fail to clear the committee, he may not be the only Trump pick to hit such a roadblock.
In fact, on the same day, Trump’s choice to be Director of National Intelligence (DNI), Tulsi Gabbard, also faces the possibility of failing to get past her respective committee.