{"id":126371,"date":"2025-02-13T16:01:56","date_gmt":"2025-02-13T16:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/live-updates-rfk-jr-faces-final-confirmation-hearing-to-be-donald-trumps-us-health-secretary-bbc-com\/"},"modified":"2025-02-13T16:01:56","modified_gmt":"2025-02-13T16:01:56","slug":"live-updates-rfk-jr-faces-final-confirmation-hearing-to-be-donald-trumps-us-health-secretary-bbc-com","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/live-updates-rfk-jr-faces-final-confirmation-hearing-to-be-donald-trumps-us-health-secretary-bbc-com\/","title":{"rendered":"Live updates: RFK Jr faces final confirmation hearing to be Donald Trump's US health secretary – BBC.com"},"content":{"rendered":"

Robert F Kennedy Jr, better known as RFK Jr, faces a confirmation vote before the full US Senate as the final step in his bid to become health secretary
US President Donald Trump's pick to become education secretary, former wrestling executive Linda McMahon, is also set to have her own final hearing
The president is set to host a news conference about his tariff policies in the Oval Office at 13:00 (18:00 GMT)
Later, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi will meet President Trump at the White House
Edited by Adam Durbin in Washington DC
Senators are currently voting on whether to confirm RFK Jr as health secretary.
We'll bring that result to you when we have it.
This is the last hurdle for RFK Jr to get over before he can be appointed as Donald Trump's health secretary.
At his first confirmation hearing in January, Senators quizzed him on his views over vaccines, abortion and food additives.
In the clip below you can see some of the key moments – our colleagues also pulled together five key takeaways<\/a> from the hearing at the time:
This video can not be played
Watch: Protesters, McDonald's and onesies – RFK Jr's confirmation hearing
Public health experts were not the only ones to oppose RFK Jr's nomination for the post of health secretary initially.
Several Republican senators – including former Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Bill Cassidy, a former doctor – seemed to express scepticism about Kennedy and his anti-vaccine views.
During an earlier confirmation hearing for Kennedy, Cassidy pressed him on these views, asking him to confirm he would not "impound, divert" or reduce any funding from Congress on vaccination programmes.
Kennedy said he would not.
By the end of the hearing, Cassidy said he believed the two would have "a great working relationship to make America healthy again\u201d.
Yesterday, all Republicans voted to advance his nomination, though they could still cast a vote against him in his final confirmation vote.
\"\"<\/span><\/span>Madeline Halpert<\/strong>
US Reporter<\/span>
Since Trump named RFK Jr to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, a host of public health experts have raised objections to his nomination.
Many take issue with the anti-vaccine views the 71-year-old has espoused, including through his organisation, Children's Health Defense, which has been known to spread anti-vaccine misinformation.
But a couple of his priorities – primarily his goal of tackling obesity in America – have some support from health experts.
Under the slogan "Make America Healthy Again", RFK Jr has pledged to cut out ultra-processed foods from American diets and ban harmful chemicals and other additives from foods.
It's a stance that could set up a clash with food and agricultural corporations, many of which have been strong supporters of Donald Trump's presidencies.
Still, even within RFK Jr's nutrition agenda, some of his stances remain controversial, such as his support for raw milk – which can sicken people – and his attacks on seed oils, which research has not found to be harmful.
You can learn more about RFK Jr's nutrition agenda here<\/a>.
\"\"<\/span><\/span>Cachella Smith<\/strong>
Reporting from Washington DC<\/span>
Good morning and welcome back to our continuing coverage of the new Trump administration, as the president approaches the end of his fourth working week in office.
As in previous days, there's plenty on the agenda that we'll be watching closely.
A confirmation hearing is due this morning for WWE executive Linda McMahon as education secretary while Robert F Kennedy Jr – better known as RFK Jr – faces a confirmation vote for health secretary.
Abortion and his controversial views on vaccines were key topic for senators when they questioned RFK Jr last month.
Later in the day we'll be looking ahead to tariffs. On Truth Social this morning the president indicated there will be a news conference at 13:00 EST (18:00 GMT) on reciprocal tariffs.
"THREE GREAT WEEKS, PERHAPS THE BEST EVER, BUT TODAY IS THE BIG ONE: RECIPROCAL TARIFFS!!! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!," he posted a little earlier today.
Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi is currently in Washington DC and set to meet with the president.
Trade, tariffs and visas are likely to be discussion points – you can read more about that in our story<\/a>.
We'll have plenty of updates, analysis and reaction throughout the day so make sure to stay with us.
Copyright \u00a9 2025 BBC. The BBC is not responsible for the content of external sites. Read about our approach to external linking.<\/a><\/p>\n

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Robert F Kennedy Jr, better known as RFK Jr, faces a confirmation vote before the full US Senate as the final step in his bid to become health secretary US President Donald Trump's pick to become education secretary, former wrestling executive Linda McMahon, is also set to have her own final hearingThe president is set […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":126372,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-126371","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-us","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126371","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=126371"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/126371\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/126372"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=126371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=126371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/quixnet.net\/wpinstance\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=126371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}