Kennedy, Polarizing Pick for Health Secretary, Makes His Senate Debut

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose antipathy toward vaccines has raised alarms among health experts and galvanized the “medical freedom” movement, will testify Wednesday at the first of two Senate committee hearings as he seeks to become the nation’s health secretary.

Until now, Mr. Kennedy has had only closed-door meetings with senators. His appearance Wednesday before the Senate Committee on Finance, which is set for 10 a.m. Eastern, will be high profile and high stakes, one part Washington theater and one part substantive debate.

Mr. Kennedy’s unorthodox views on a range of matters — from vaccines, to fluoridated water (he opposes it) to raw milk (he embraces it, though federal regulators say it is dangerous) have made him one of President Trump’s most polarizing cabinet picks. He has lately shifted his emphasis away from vaccines and toward consensus ideas like combating the nation’s chronic disease epidemic and curbing ultra-processed foods from the American diet.

In a Senate where Republicans hold a slim majority, Mr. Kennedy can afford to lose the support of just three senators when his nomination comes before the full body of lawmakers for a vote.

A number of Republican senators have been noncommittal about him. They include Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, a polio survivor and former Republican leader, and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a doctor who leads the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Mr. Kennedy will appear before that committee on Thursday. (The Senate Finance Committee will make the decision on whether Mr. Kennedy’s nomination moves forward to a full vote, however.)

Wednesday’s hearing comes a day after Mr. Kennedy’s cousin, Caroline, released a letter casting him as a charismatic “predator” who led his siblings and cousins down “a path of drug addiction,” and whose views about vaccines make him unfit for the secretary’s position. Mr. Kennedy has spoken openly about recovering from heroin addiction.