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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be on Capitol Hill this week for an onslaught of meetings with senators in an attempt to be confirmed after he was appointed by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
But like those Cabinet selections who went before him (see: Pete Hegseth for secretary of defense or Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence), Kennedy’s confirmation is far from assured.
Already there are concerns about his ideological compatibility with the MAGA folks who will surround him should he become the next HHS secretary. Kennedy’s views on abortion, corn syrups and seed oils, and vaccines, specifically, have earned him some enemies in the Republican Party.
Kennedy once said that he supported abortion access until fetal viability (which most experts believe is about 23-24 weeks), but more recent statements suggest his stance is less fixed. So, at a minimum, anti-abortion Republicans are likely to pin him to an acceptable position on this specific policy issue—though even members of the GOP might cave if Kennedy agrees to make certain concessions if confirmed.
Of course, if Kennedy’s past statements on abortion don’t tank his bid, his promise to regulate farms and food may. Kennedy has previously complained about agribusiness giants and genetically modified crops and pesticides, which seems to have angered some Republicans in farming states.
Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley, of Iowa, told Semafor that he’s already hearing concerns from farm groups about Kennedy’s confirmation.
“He’s made some statements about pigs and about GMO corn and soybeans. I can’t believe that he’s going to have a problem with that,” Grassley said. “But if he does, he has a problem with me.” Grassley also predicted that when Kennedy is pressed on his stances, “he’s not going to come out anti-agriculture.”
Then there’s Kennedy’s criticism of processed foods as child-killing evils that could land him in hot water with the biggest Big Mac lover in the White House: Trump.
Notably, these aren’t the only statements Kennedy has made that could threaten his place in Trump’s White House. His reflexible hostility toward vaccines has also put him at odds with many Republicans, including Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell. Without naming Kennedy directly, McConnell suggested on Friday that a Kennedy attorney’s prior bid to get the federal government to rescind its approval for the polio vaccine could jeopardize Kennedy’s nomination.
Mitch McConnell“Efforts to undermine public confidence in proven cures are not just uninformed—they’re dangerous,” said McConnell, a polio survivor. “Anyone seeking the Senate’s consent to serve in the incoming administration would do well to steer clear of even the appearance of association with such efforts.”
Trump once promised to let Kennedy “go wild” on health and food policy in his administration, but his bid could be in trouble if there are just a handful of Republican defectors. To combat this, Kennedy is reportedly on a mission to win over his skeptics.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Kennedy’s plans for this week entail playing down his anti-vaxx record and saying that he’s aligned with the president-elect on his abortion stance. (Trump has said that the issue is best left to the states after the U.S. Supreme Court, in June 2022, overturned Roe v. Wade.) A source close to Kennedy also told the outlet that the potential Cabinet pick will spend this week emphasizing the benefit of healthy foods during his 25 meetings.
“Mr. Kennedy is immensely prepared to meet with over 2 dozen Senators this week. He is energized, he is excited to talk about President Trump’s vision to make America healthy again,” a Kennedy spokesperson told Politico on Sunday.
Kennedy’s team is likely projecting confidence because they know Kennedy, like others, plucked for a spot in Trump’s Cabinet, will say and do whatever it takes to get confirmed. After all, Kennedy has already had to repudiate past statements he made about Trump’s authoritarian tendencies and he’s come a long way in Trump World since his quixotic challenge to President Joe Biden.
So Kennedy, for his part, will likely do as much as he can this week to allay some Republicans’ concerns, and that might work in the short term—or until Trump gets fed up with hearing donor complaints about him and tosses him to the side.
