RFK Jr. clears major Senate hurdle after skeptical GOP doctor gives him vote

Anti-vaccine conspiracist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was cleared to go before a full Senate vote for confirmation to lead the Health and Human Services Department after a Republican skeptic gave him his vote.

Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) announced on Tuesday that he would support confirm the nominee to head the department.

It meant he cleared the Senate Finance Committee, which voted along party lines. His nomination heads to the Senate floor.

Writing on X Cassidy, a doctor who had expressed serious reservations, said he'd had " very intense conversations with Bobby and the White House over the weekend and even this morning" ahead of the vote and he insisted he'd received "serious commitments... from the administration and the opportunity to make progress on the issues we agree on like healthy foods and a pro-American agenda."

Cassidy had expressed concern during confirmation hearings that Kennedy refused to explicitly say that he didn't believe that there was a link between vaccinations and autism in children despite the fact that countless studies have shown no such link exists.

Kennedy also acknowledged saying in the past that Lyme disease was a government-engineered bioweapon.