Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Environmental Advocate and Health Secretary

update February 13, 2025

The Senate voted to confirm Kennedy’s nomination as health secretary.

The Senate voted 52 to 48, with all Republicans except Kentucky Senator and former majority leader, Mitch McConnell, supporting the environmental lawyer. Kennedy was sworn in today by U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch.

As I researched Robert Kennedy for this post, I realized he and I are about the same age. We were both grade school kids when his uncle, President John Kennedy was assassinated in 1963.

His was the first presidential election I understood. My parents liked JFK, so I did too.  I listened to his inaugural speech where he spoke words I’ve never forgotten.

Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.

President John F. Kennedy

His brother Robert served as the Attorney General, although I’m sure I didn’t know what that meant. I don’t remember much about him until he ran for president when Robert Jr. and I were teenagers. It seemed impossible that he too was shot, and killed while campaigning.

Some years later, their younger brother, Senator Ted Kennedy, ran for president. However, he lost the Democratic nomination against incumbent President Jimmy Carter. So, at least for then, there wouldn’t be another President Kennedy—at least not until Robert Jr. ran last year.

There still isn’t another President Kennedy but President Trump nominated Robert Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. The Senate is expected to confirm him.

This is his official bio on the White House website. I’ve added comments in parentheses and links for more information.

from WhiteHouse.gov

Secretary of Health and Human Services, Robert F Kennedy, Jr.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s career of public service began in 1985 as an attorney for the environmental nonprofit RiverKeeper. He eventually became one of the most influential environmentalists in the United States, receiving TIME Magazine’s “Hero of the Planet” (1999) and the Sartisky Peace Award. (I could not find a link for Sartisky Peace Award.)

Bobby Kennedy Jr. comes from an illustrious political family. The son of Senator Robert F. Kennedy and the nephew of President John F. Kennedy, Bobby Jr. was a lifelong Democrat but became increasingly estranged from the party in the 2010s as it drifted away from its traditional values.

He made his final break on October 9, 2023, when he announced his candidacy as an independent for President of the United States. (He eventually suspended his election campaign, instead endorsed and supported Trump.)

Bobby has spent nearly 40 years fighting corrupt corporations and government agencies. During his tenure at RiverKeeper, he successfully sued dozens of municipalities to force compliance with the Clean Water Act.

He won cases against corporate giants too, including a suit against General Electric for toxic runoff from its corporate jet hangar and a court order against ExxonMobil mandating they clean up tens of millions of gallons of spilled oil in Brooklyn, NY.

Building on the success of the local Riverkeeper model, Bobby co-founded the WaterKeeper Alliance and served as its President for 21 years. Under his direction, it became the world’s largest nonprofit devoted to clean water and now protects 2.7 million miles of waterways with over a million volunteers in the United States and 46 other countries. (According to its website, he does not seem to be involved with the company now.)

end of quoted text

Department of Health and Human Services

As Secretary, Kennedy will oversee a vast agency with a huge budget.

What does HHS do? Per the website, the mission is

to enhance the health and well-being of all Americans,

by providing for effective health and human services and

by fostering sound, sustained advances in the sciences underlying medicine, public health, and social services.

The proposed budget for FY 2025 includes $130.7 billion in discretionary and $1.7 trillion in mandatory proposed budget authority.

(Mandatory spending is required by law, also known as entitlement spending. Examples are Social Security, Medicare, veterans benefits, and interest on debt. Discretionary spending is approved by Congress each year. )

You can review the organizational chart here but you’ve probably heard the most about these agencies

• CDC-Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• FDA-Food and Drug Administration
• CMS-Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
• NIH-National Institutes of Health

I reviewed the appointees to some of these in this post

Featured Image-National Institutes of Health campus

The featured image for this post is of the James H. Shannon Building (Building One), NIH campus, Bethesda, MD Credit: Lydia Polimeni, National Institutes of Health.

“Since President Franklin D. Roosevelt dedicated the Bethesda campus from the front steps, Building 1 has been the focal point for NIH leadership.”

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