Lobbyists expecting a more conventional pick to lead the government’s $3 trillion health agency than Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the brash contrarian President-elect Donald Trump named … to take charge, are plotting how to stop the Senate from confirming him.
They’re also currying favor in case they can’t.
Kennedy has proposed tighter regulation of the pesticides farmers use to juice their yields, a reexamination of vaccine safety data, a ban on highly processed foods in schools, and a remaking of the agencies making the rules around health and food.
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That could pose a major threat to a broad swath of American industry’s bottom line. Lobbyists who hadn’t taken the possibility seriously say their phones are blowing up over Trump’s decision, and industry leaders are trying to quickly leverage any connections to Kennedy to mitigate the risk he could pose. More than a dozen who work for companies in RFK’s crosshairs said they’re telling clients to keep their cool. Their attitude is indicative of the confusion gripping Washington’s lobbying corridor, K Street, since Trump’s election….
