Collins Backs RFK Jr. for Health Secretary, Almost Guaranteeing His Confirmation

Senator Collins will vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as America’s next Health and Human Services secretary following a dicey confirmation process for the nominee that saw several GOP senators question his commitment to science and the efficacy of vaccines. The Maine senator’s support nearly guarantees that he will make it through the Senate, with just a small band of other Republicans currently mum on their own position. The health secretary nominee will have to pass what is known as a cloture vote — or a vote to end debate — early Wednesday morning, shortly after midnight. Once the Senate passes that process, Mr. Kennedy’s final confirmation vote will come the following day on Thursday, following a 30-hour period of speeches on his nomination. Senator Kaine previously informed the New York Sun that Democrats plan to use all of that time to delay Mr. Kennedy’s confirmation by as many hours as possible. Ms. Collins, who sits on the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, says she is satisfied by Mr. Kennedy’s answers surrounding vaccine safety and studies for chronic diseases. “Mr. Kennedy committed to support MaineHealth’s development of a vaccine for Lyme disease, as well as research for both chronic and infectious diseases. He told me he believed in the efficacy of the polio vaccine, and said he would help restore Americans’ confidence in vaccines and our health agencies,” Ms. Collins said in a statement first reported by the Portland Press Herald. Ms. Collins further said that she had won assurances from Mr. Kennedy that he would examine the Trump administration’s pause on grants to the National Institutes of Health, some of which go to hospital and research systems in her native Maine. “I contacted Mr. Kennedy about the Administration’s decision to impose an arbitrary cap on the indirect costs that are part of NIH grants and negotiated between the grant recipient and NIH. He stated that as soon as he is confirmed, he will lead a re-examination of this initiative,” Ms. Collins said in her statement. Mr. Kennedy’s confirmation process was on the rocks from the moment he was nominated last year by President Trump. The president rewarded Mr. Kennedy with the post after he dropped his own independent presidential bid and endorsed the Republican ticket. At his two confirmation hearings before the Senate Finance Committee and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, Mr. Kennedy declined at several points to say explicitly that vaccines do not cause autism, which led the chairman of the HELP Committee, Senator Cassidy, to withhold his support until the last minute. The Louisiana senator said in a statement that he only came to the decision to support Mr. Kennedy after having some “intense conversations” with both the nominee and administration officials. The only Republican senators who have so far not made their positions known on the issue of Mr. Kennedy would not even have enough votes to kill the nomination if they all banded together. Senator McConnell, Senator Curtis, and Senator Murkowski have been silent, though it would take four GOP votes to kill Mr. Kennedy’s confirmation. The Senate will also vote early Wednesday morning on the final confirmation of Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard to be the director of national intelligence. She cleared her cloture motion vote Monday on a party-line vote by a margin of 52 to 46.

Collins Backs RFK Jr. for Health Secretary, Almost Guaranteeing His Confirmation

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