RFK Jr. tries to build momentum for his HHS candidacy on Capitol Hill

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. arrived on Capitol Hill this week with a clear goal: build support for his controversial selection to lead the nation’s health agencies.

So far, so good.

Kennedy has met with more than a dozen GOP senators, with many lawmakers praising those conversations and signaling that they plan to vote to confirm him as secretary of health and human services next year.

Kennedy’s bid to serve as America’s top health official has been clouded by his longtime criticism of vaccines and fears of what he might do to the nation’s public health infrastructure. The former Democrat also holds stances that could alienate GOP orthodoxy, such as vows to combat the pharmaceutical and agriculture industries, and past support for abortion access.

But Republicans this week said they were reassured by their talks with Kennedy, brushing aside questions about how the prominent vaccine skeptic could affect Americans’ vaccine access if confirmed. Kennedy, who says he is not anti-vaccine, founded an anti-vaccine group and has criticized federal recommendations on when children should be vaccinated.

“He wants to make sure that parents understand the good, the bad and the ugly, instead of just forcing parents to give vaccines to their kids,” said Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Alabama), who met with Kennedy on Tuesday and said he is a staunch supporter of Kennedy’s candidacy to lead HHS.

Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas), a physician, said he agreed with Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, which calls for addressing the root causes of chronic illness and which was the focus of their Tuesday conversation.

“We spoke for an hour, and vaccines didn’t even come up,” Marshall said.

Leslie Dach, founder of Protect Our Care, a left-leaning advocacy group fighting Kennedy’s selection for HHS, said he isn’t impressed by Kennedy’s early meetings with GOP senators.

“He purposely picked the easy ones who will give him momentum,” Dach said. “The senators that matter, he hasn’t seen.”

Kennedy is slated to meet with more senators this week, including Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who is viewed as a swing vote. If Kennedy fails to win support from any Democrats, he can afford to lose only three Republican votes in the closely divided Senate, where he will need 50 votes.

According to a Washington Post analysis, 19 senators have said they favor Kennedy’s candidacy, 18 signaled they oppose it, and the positions of the remaining 63 are still unclear. Many Democrats have said they will approach Kennedy’s confirmation with an open mind and are refusing to rule out voting for him, though they have cited deep concerns with his views on vaccines.

“I have not made up my mind on any of the nominees who may ultimately come to the Senate floor,” said Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Georgia).

Republican aides said Kennedy’s confirmation chances are hard to predict, citing the public controversy about his selection, the possibility of some Democrats supporting him and GOP lawmakers’ hesitancy to oppose too many of President-elect Donald Trump’s picks. A number of Trump’s other selections, such as Pete Hegseth to lead the Pentagon and Tulsi Gabbard to serve as director of national intelligence, have drawn blowback from GOP senators.

Some of Kennedy’s most difficult conversations will not come on this trip. He is not scheduled to meet this week with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky), who battled polio as a child and last week warned that he would not support any nominee associated with doubts about the polio vaccine - a not-so-indirect shot at Kennedy, who previously questioned the polio vaccine and whose ally has raised questions about a polio vaccine.

He also is not scheduled to sit down with Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) and other lawmakers who have said they oppose efforts to roll back vaccine access.

Trump has said in recent interviews that he supports the polio vaccine, crediting its effectiveness at eliminating the risk of the disease in the United States.

“I think everything should be looked at, but I’m a big believer in the polio vaccine,” Trump said during a Monday news conference.

Kennedy told reporters this week he supports the polio vaccine.

Kennedy’s selection has been roundly opposed by public health leaders, who say he is unfit to oversee HHS, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and other agencies he has long criticized. Scott Gottlieb, who led the Food and Drug Administration under Trump, and Jerome Adams, who was the nation’s surgeon general, have warned that Kennedy could further erode Americans’ confidence in vaccines.

“We’re going to start seeing epidemics of diseases that have long been vanquished, and, God forbid, we see polio reemerge in this country,” Gottlieb said last month.

Protect Our Care this week unveiled a new warning that Kennedy is a threat to Americans’ health. The group’s “Stop RFK War Room” says it will focus its efforts on 12 GOP senators, including lawmakers known for their willingness to break with Trump, such as Collins and Murkowski.

The group is working on a follow-up advertisement that highlights Kennedy’s efforts to question vaccine safety in Samoa. The island nation suffered a measles outbreak in 2019 resulting in the death of 83 people, including many young children. The outbreak came four months after Kennedy visited and met with anti-vaccine activists. Kennedy has denied any connection between his visit and the measles outbreak.

“Just looking at public remarks, you can see enough votes to defeat him,” Dach said. “This is a fight we can win.”

Abortion stance not yet a problem

Kennedy was expected to face hurdles this week based on his past comments on abortion. During his long-shot presidential campaign, Kennedy in May said he had decided abortion should be unrestricted until fetal viability. That concerned antiabortion leaders, some of whom urged senators to extract pledges from Kennedy during the confirmation process.

But abortion does not appear to have tripped up Kennedy’s prospects so far. After meeting with Kennedy, several staunch antiabortion senators indicated they were comfortable with him at the helm of HHS, which oversees agencies that craft policy on abortion and reproductive health care.

“He was very clear. He says, ‘I think there’s too many abortions in the world,’” Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Oklahoma) said. “At the same time, he’s serving at the will of the president; he supports his policy on abortion.”

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Missouri) said he received numerous assurances from Kennedy during a meeting Tuesday, which he described on social media. According to Hawley, Kennedy pledged to select deputies who oppose abortion and to reinstate Trump-era policies, such as barring U.S. aid to groups that provide or promote abortions and preventing clinics from receiving federal family planning grants if they refer women for abortions.

Questions on vaccines, agriculture

Kennedy has repeatedly linked the childhood vaccine schedule to autism - a claim that has been debunked by scientists. Several Republican senators have said they plan to quiz Kennedy on past criticism of vaccines, while others say they are comfortable with his positions.

“He wants to create transparency with vaccines, which I agree with,” Sen. Rick Scott (R-Florida) said after meeting with Kennedy on Monday and telling reporters he plans to supports Kennedy’s nomination.

Some senators who have not met with Kennedy said they were reassured by his public statements and comments they have received from colleagues.

“It doesn’t appear as though he’s going to be as aggressive on challenging vaccines as what I think some people had thought,” Sen. Mike Rounds (R-South Dakota) told The Post on Tuesday, calling it a “good thing.”

Asked by a reporter if he was worried about the resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases, Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pennsylvania) dismissed the question.

“People need to just relax,” said Fetterman, who popped out of his office Wednesday to shake Kennedy’s hand.

Kennedy has also taken aim at decades of U.S. agricultural practices, including revisiting some pesticides and the use of genetically modified organisms, concerning senators hailing from heartland states.

“It’s going to be really important for our farmers and ranchers that I have a chance to sit down and talk to him about the practical realities of what it takes to produce that food supply,” Sen. John Hoeven (R-North Dakota) said.

But in conversations this week, Kennedy pledged not to pursue a crackdown on agricultural practices.

“He understands our farmers are in trouble, and we want to make sure that we have farmers that can make a living,” Tuberville said.

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Mariana Alfaro, Leigh Ann Caldwell and Liz Goodwin contributed to this report.