WASHINGTON (AP) — Vocal vaccine skeptic and activist lawyer Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appears on track to become the nation’s health secretary after winning the crucial support of Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, a doctor who says Kennedy has assured him he would not topple the nation’s childhood vaccination program. In a starkly partisan vote Tuesday, the Republican-controlled Senate Finance Committee advanced Kennedy’s nomination 14-13, sending his bid to oversee the U.S. Health and Human Services agency for a full vote on the Senate floor later. With Cassidy’s vote no longer in doubt, Kennedy’s nomination is likely to succeed absent any last-minute vote switches. Cassidy says Kennedy “will be the secretary.” All Democrats on the committee opposed Kennedy.
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