Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, said Monday she intends to vote to confirm Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as secretary of Health and Human Services, a boost to one of President Donald Trump’s most contentious Cabinet nominees.
Even though the GOP has a three-seat majority in the upper chamber, Collins’ position is seen as crucial in case any other Republicans balk against confirming Kennedy. Collins, along with Republican Sens. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Mitch McConnell of Kentucky voted against confirming Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who needed Vice President J.D. Vance to cast the deciding vote in his favor.
In a post Monday on X, CNN chief congressional correspondent Manu Raju wrote that he talked to Collins and, “She said that Kennedy told her that he would ‘re-examine’ the WH’s [White House’s] NIH [National Institutes of Health] cuts and he ‘seemed to understand the concerns that I was raising about what it would be more very important biomedical research and clinical trials.'”
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