RFK Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard win Senate committee votes
Published in Political News
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Tulsi Gabbard won the backing of Republican-led Senate committees Tuesday in party-line votes as President Donald Trump appeared to be on the cusp of winning confirmation of two of his most controversial Cabinet nominees.
The longtime vaccine skeptic won a 14-13 vote in the finance committee, including the backing of Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., a medical doctor who sharply questioned the nominee’s views on immunizations and was considered a possible no vote.
Kennedy’s nomination now heads to the full Senate, where he has decent odds of winning confirmation despite deep concerns from Democrats about the years of work he’s done sowing unfounded doubts about vaccines.
Like other Trump nominees, he would need the support of all but three Republicans if Democrats vote in lockstep to oppose him as expected.
Republican Sens. Susan Collins of Maine, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky are all seen as potential no votes.
In a CBS “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday, McConnell, a childhood polio survivor, declined to say how he would vote on RFK Jr. but reiterated that “vaccines are critically important.”
Gabbard, who Trump tapped to be director of national intelligence, later scored a 9-8 win in the intelligence committee after picking up the endorsement of Collins, a key moderate who sometimes bucks Trump.
The controversial former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii angered some Republicans at her committee hearing by refusing to disavow her past support of Edward Snowden. She has also raised hackles with her pro-Russia views and her cozy ties to ousted Syrian dictator Bashir Assad.
Still, most Senate vote-counters believe almost all GOP lawmakers will shelve their concerns about Gabbard to avoid crossing Trump.
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