Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana has emerged as a central figure in the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's nominee for health and human services secretary.

The GOP senator and former physician expressed misgivings about whether Trump’s controversial HHS pick could be trusted with the public’s health.

Sanders, the senior minority party member on the committee, pressed Kennedy to concede that health care was a human right, as his father, Robert F. Kennedy, and his uncles, John F. Kennedy and Edward Kennedy, had done. Kennedy again did not give a definitive answer.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. goes before two two U.S. Senate hearings in his quest to head the nation's health department. Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy, a doctor, sits on both.

Click in for more news from The Hill{beacon} Health Care Health Care   The Big Story All eyes on Cassidy for second RFK Jr. hearing Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), chair of the Senate

While Democrats blasted Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for previous comments on vaccines and some Republicans teed him up for stump speeches, Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana mostly stuck

Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy will be at the center of the first hearing for Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s controversial Health and Human Services Secretary nomination.

The hearings were packed to capacity with protesters and fans, while the spillover crowd hung out in hallways and overflow rooms.

Tulsi Gabbard, Kash Patel and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. are among Trump's more controversial nominees, and faced tough questions from senators Thursday.

“Bobby! Bobby!” Supporters decked out in MAHA (“Make America Healthy Again”) pins and hats chanted this as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee for health secretary, entered a packed room for his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing on Wednesday.

Kennedy, tapped by Trump to lead HHS, struggled to ease concerns held by on-the-fence GOP senators over his long history of vaccine skepticism.