RFK confirmed as health secretary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confirmed Thursday as President Donald Trump’s health secretary.

The Senate voted 52-48 in favor of Kennedy, who faced scrutiny over previous statements expressing vaccine-hesitancy and his criticism of the healthcare and pharmaceutical industries, according to the Associated Press.

The former presidential candidate, who suspended his campaign as an independent to join forces with Trump last year, will now head the Department of Health and Human Services, through which he has promised to “Make America Healthy Again.”

His confirmation was met with enthusiasm from many lawmakers.

“It is time to put someone in there who’s going to go wild,” said Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, according to Politico, which explained that Tillis looks for Kennedy to “bring new ideas to reduce the cost of health care and drug prices, bolster food safety and improve the government’s health insurance program for low-income people, Medicaid.”

Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, expressed a similar hope, saying “We’ll have the opportunity to deliver much needed change to our patients’ health care system.”