President Donald Trump’s nominee to head Health and Human Services, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., just got some fantastic news about his prospects for confirmation.
Rhode Island Democrat Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse may break with his party to vote for Kennedy, who is a longtime friend, WPRI reported, because of their long relationship and friendship dating back to when they were roommates in law school.
In 1998, The Providence Journal chronicled the friendship between the two men: “On many mornings, the two young men, scions of wealthy families with histories of public service, hiked and hunted in the woods around Charlottesville, Va. Kennedy half-kiddingly says he failed his first bar exam because Whitehouse persuaded him to take a four-day whitewater rafting trip in West Virginia when he should have been studying.”
That said, Whitehouse told Politico last week when asked about RFK Jr.’s confirmation: “I’m not going to reveal how I’m voting [on] any nominee.”
Also, last month, he told Slate, “There’s a bunch of stuff that I want from HHS. So I’m going to hold my fire on that.”
The dates are set for Kennedy’s hearings before the two committees he needs to get approval from before being voted on by the entire Senate, Fox News reported.
“The Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary nominee will participate in hearings with two committees, the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) and the Senate Committee on Finance. The first hearing will occur next week, on Wednesday, in front of the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees HHS. The Senate’s chief committee covering issues tied to health and healthcare, the HELP committee, will probe Kennedy the following day, on Thursday,” the outlet reported.
The Senate Finance Committee will be the committee that decides if his nomination advances, however.
Even though Kennedy potentially gained the support of at least one Democrat senator, he faced opposition from some Republicans.