Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has meetings with over a dozen senators over the next two days, including top progressive Sens. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., in addition to others in the Democratic caucus.
President-elect Donald Trump announced last year that RFK Jr. was his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in his second administration. Since the news broke, Kennedy has been on Capitol Hill meeting with various senators.
Up until this point, he had only met with Republicans in the upper chamber. But on Wednesday, Kennedy begins his sit-downs with a handful of Democrats, who could be crucial to his getting confirmed.
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Kennedy, a former Democrat and independent presidential candidate, will attend meetings with Democratic caucus members, Sens. Catherine Cortez-Masto of Nevada, John Fetterman of Pennsylvania, Maggie Hassan of New Hampshire, Ed Markey of Massachusetts, Michael Bennet of Colorado, Mark Warner of Virginia, Warren and Sanders.
The one-on-ones with Democrats are coming as several in the party have expressed openness to some of Kennedy’s positions, particularly as it relates to agriculture and food production.
But some of those same policy stances pose a potential problem for his support among Republicans in the Senate.
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He will also be joining Sens. Jim Banks, R-Ind., Bill Cassidy, R-La., Susan Collins, R-Maine, John Cornyn, R-Texas and Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, for meetings on the hill this week.
Grassley is one of a handful of Republicans that have flagged concerns regarding Kennedy’s positions on agriculture and how they could affect farmers.
“They’ve got to be able to use modern farming techniques, and that involves a lot of things, not only really sophisticated equipment, but also fertilizers and pesticides. So, we have to have that conversation,” Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., recently told reporters.
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Grassley previously emphasized the need for genetic engineering to keep up with food demand and feed the country.
However, others have expressed confidence that Kennedy will make the right calls for farmers. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Ala., said he warned Kennedy not to go “overboard” with agriculture regulations during their meeting last year.
He added that Trump’s HHS pick was “very on board” and “understands our farmers are in trouble, and we want to make sure that we have farmers that can make a living.”
After Kennedy endorsed Trump ahead of the 2024 election, the two debuted their campaign to “Make America Healthy Again.”
This slogan has been adopted by a caucus formed by some Senate Republicans who are supporting Kennedy for the HHS role and hope to facilitate his and Trump’s policies to promote health in the country.
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