Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald J. Trump’s choice to run the Health and Human Services Department, is back on Capitol Hill on Thursday for a fourth straight day of meetings with Senate Republicans, who have pressed him on his commitment to their anti-abortion agenda but so far offered little resistance to his candidacy.
In a sign of the friendly reception Mr. Kennedy has received this week, Senator Roger Marshall of Kansas, a physician, said Thursday that he had formed a “Make America Healthy Again” caucus — an ode to the slogan Mr. Kennedy has used to describe his broad agenda focused on food policy and chronic disease. Mr. Kennedy had endorsed the group, Mr. Marshall’s office said.
The caucus appeared to be an effort to institutionalize Mr. Kennedy’s influence in Congress, similarly to the recently formed DOGE caucus, a reference to the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, the cost-cutting project overseen by the billionaires Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy.
Mr. Marshall’s announcement said the group, which includes Senator Tommy Tuberville of Alabama, Senator Rick Scott of Florida, Senator Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming and Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, would focus on nutrition, improving primary care and “addressing the root causes of chronic diseases.”
Mr. Kennedy’s visits to Capitol Hill this week have led to the impression that he is on a glide path to confirmation, with Republicans set to hold 53 seats in the next Congress.
But he has yet to meet with members of the conference who could approach him more skeptically, including Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a physician who is set to lead the Senate health committee next year. Mr. Kennedy is still expected to meet this week with Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, a more moderate Republican who has vowed to press Mr. Kennedy on his anti-vaccine activism.
Mr. Kennedy told reporters this week that he might hold sessions in January with Democratic members of the Senate.
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