On Wednesday, Cheryl Hines gave her husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a kiss for support outside the Senate Finance Committee before his first confirmation hearing for secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Inside the hearing, Hines sat next to Kennedy Jr. and observed stoically as he faced hostile questions, mostly from Democrats.

As President Donald Trump’s nominee for the position, Kennedy Jr.’s bid to head the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is controversial. Many lawmakers have expressed hesitation in confirming him as the leader of the powerful department. Among the concerns cited are his lack of qualifications for the role and the anti-vaccine beliefs he has previously preached.

However, in his opening statement on Wednesday, Kennedy Jr. protested that he was not anti-vaccine or anti-industry but “pro-safety.”

He insisted, “I worked for years to raise awareness about the mercury and toxic chemicals in fish, but that didn’t make me anti-fish. All of my kids are vaccinated, and I believe vaccines have a critical role in health care.”

While there was a heavy focus on Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine views from Democrats, Republicans grilled him instead about his perspective on reproductive rights, as last year Kennedy told a podcast host that he supported women having abortions at full term. However, a few days later, he posted to X that “Abortion should be legal up until a certain number of weeks, and restricted thereafter.”

Questioned by Sen. James Lankford (R-Oklahoma), Kennedy Jr. stated that he believes states should individually control abortion. He went on to outline Trump’s plans to defund abortion clinics and make late-term abortions illegal, declaring, “I serve at the pleasure of the president. I’m going to implement his policies.”

Kennedy is slated to face the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions on Thursday. 

As head of the HHS, Kennedy would oversee many powerful agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. 

Presently, no Republican senators have publicly opposed Kennedy Jr.

On Tuesday night, Kennedy’s cousin, Caroline Kennedy, urged senators to reject the nomination, calling RFK Jr. a “predator.”

Last year, RFK Jr. revealed that he had a dead worm in his brain from a trip to Asia years ago.

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Article by Baila Eve Zisman

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