Robert F Kennedy Jr and Tulsi Gabbard have cleared a key hurdle on the way to Senate confirmation for the cabinet roles that US President Donald Trump nominated them to take on.
Kennedy was tapped to be the next US health secretary, while Gabbard was picked to serve as Director of National Intelligence. Both are considered controversial picks and it was uncertain they would have enough support for a full Senate vote.
But, on Tuesday, Kennedy was approved by the Senate Finance Committee in a 14-13 vote that split along party lines. Only Republicans voted in favour of him.
Gabbard, meanwhile, survived a narrow 9-8 vote before the Senate Intelligence Committee – which also split along party lines.
Both of their nominations will now move to a vote before the full US Senate, which Republicans control 53-47.
Kennedy’s nomination advances
During the confirmation process, Kennedy received some opposition from lawmakers of both parties due to his scepticism of vaccines. Some also questioned whether he was expert enough on health matters, including US public health infrastructure and health care programs, to take on the role.
He spent much of his hearings, however, insisting that he was not opposed to vaccines – nor a conspiracy theorist – but only supports more stringent safety tests.
Still, senators often zeroed in on his past comments, including a podcast appearance where he said: “There’s no vaccine that is safe and effective.”
Senator Bernie Sanders, an independent who organises and works with Democrats, praised Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” slogan. But the senator then later showed pictures of baby clothes printed with anti-vaccine messages sold by Children’s Health Defence, an organisation that the nominee headed until recently.
Kennedy responded that he no longer has oversight of the group.
Although Kennedy’s testimony last week did not win over any Democrats to his side, he did manage to win the crucial support of Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy.
Cassidy, a doctor, had expressed scepticism about Trump’s nominee, but announced that he would support him during after being given “serious commitments” by Kennedy and the White House. This clears the way for a full Senate vote.
Kennedy is the son of Robert F Kennedy and the nephew of President John F Kennedy. He initially floated a run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2024, but later mounted an independent bid before dropping out and endorsing Trump.
The US political scion initally made his name as an environmental lawyer before turning to criticism of US health care – including food safety and anti-vaccine advocacy – in recent years.
As health secretary, Kennedy would be in charge of huge agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Kennedy has suggested that he will fire many of the people who work for these federal agencies, and Trump has said he would give his nominee broad leeway to reform the US food and healthcare systems.
Sceptical Republicans do not block Gabbard
Gabbard also faced opposition for some past controversial positions, including her decision to meet with and defend former Syrian President Bashar-al-Assad in 2017 as well as a previous push to obtain a pardon for National Security Agency whistleblower Edward Snowden.
At one point, Gabbard was pressed by both Republican and Democratic senators on whether she’d classify Snowden – who moved to Russia to avoid US law enforcement – as a “traitor”. She declined to answer directly, saying only that he “broke the law”.
She added that he had exposed “egregious illegal and unconstitutional programmes” that led to reforms, but she maintained that she would work to block future illegal leaks and disclosures.
Several senators also noted that Gabbard had defended Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at the start of the war. Democratic Senator Michael Bennet accused Gabbard of agreeing that a “totalitarian state” was “justified in rolling over the peaceful border of Ukraine”.
Still, Republican senators who were initially sceptical of Gabbard eventually rallied behind her.
On Monday, Senator Susan Collins of Maine said Gabbard had addressed her concerns. Senator Todd Young of Indiana announced a day later that he, too, would back Gabbard after he secured her commitment to “advance our national security”.
Gabbard is a former congresswoman from Hawaii and a military veteran who served with a medical unit in Iraq.
She was previously a member of the Democratic Party, and had championed liberal causes like government-run healthcare while serving in Congress. In 2020, she ran for the Democratic presidential nomination, and later dropped out and endorsed Joe Biden.
Gabbard left the Democratic Party in 2022, criticising them of being “warmongers” driven by “cowardly wokeness”. She became an independent before becoming a Republican in 2024 and backing Trump’s presidential bid.
If confirmed by the full Senate, she would manage a budget of more than $70bn (£55bn) and oversee 18 intelligence agencies.
