JUST IN: Critical Swing Vote Announces Will Vote “YES” to Confirm RFK Jr.

Even after the Senate Finance Committee voted to push RFK Jr’s nominations forward towards a full Senate floor vote, the danger of GOP holdouts remained.

Now, with the full Senate vote expected to happen this week, RFK Jr. may have just received a very early Christmas present.

Thanks in part to his persuasiveness and ability to talk the issues through with a level of common sense that destroys political posturing, the feeling in the room was positive over this last week.

And just a short while ago CNN’s Chief Congressional Correspondent was able to ask Senator Susan Collins where she stood on the RFK Jr. confirmation vote.

Just asked GOP Sen. Susan Collins, key swing vote, if she plans to support RFK Jr for HHS. She says she does plan to vote for him — a big boost for his confirmation.

She said that Kennedy told her that he would “re-examine” the WH’s NIH cuts and he “seemed to understand the…

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) February 10, 2025

Here’s the full text of Raju’s post:

Just asked GOP Sen. Susan Collins, key swing vote, if she plans to support RFK Jr for HHS. She says she does plan to vote for him — a big boost for his confirmation.

She said that Kennedy told her that he would “re-examine” the WH’s NIH 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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That’s good news for RFK Jr, President Trump, and the nation.

But Sen. Collins has been a thorn in President Trump’s side on more than one occasion.

Just this past week, she became the first ‘Republican’ Senator to attack the Trump administration’s cap on NIH grants, according to the New York Post:

Sen. Susan Collins blasted the Trump administration’s newly implemented cap on indirect costs related to grants issued by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Monday — becoming the first Republican lawmaker to publicly take issue with the 47th president’s budget-slashing initiatives.

The NIH announced Friday that it was limiting the amount of grant money that can go toward expenses like overhead to 15% of each award, estimating that the move could save $4 billion a year annually.

“I oppose the poorly conceived directive imposing an arbitrary cap on the indirect costs that are part of NIH grants and negotiated between the grant recipient and NIH,” Collins (R-Maine) said in a Monday statement, indicating she had gotten an earful over the weekend from institutions in her home state.

It is possible that Sen. Collins’ issue actually did have more to do with political posturing and barking loudly on the part of her partisan money backers back home in Maine — who stand to lose by the cost-saving measures aimed at NIH grants?

That’s exactly what I think the issue was.

And oddly, it may have been the issue she was able to use, ultimately, to justify to her RINO money backers back home a vote to confirm RFK Jr.

At that time, she was not willing to confirm a “Yes” vote for RFK Jr, according to that same NYP article:

“This morning, I called Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., the nominee to head the Department of Health and Human Services, to express my strong opposition to these arbitrary cuts in funding for vital research at our Maine institutions, which are known for their excellence,” she added.

Collins, 72, who has not said whether she will vote to confirm Kennedy, claimed that the nominee assured her that he “will re-examine this initiative that was implemented prior to his confirmation.”

However, it did give her the opportunity to make a show of calling RFK Jr. on the carpet, as if she singlehandedly overcame the Trump administration’s NIH grant policy — even if nothing changes in the long run.

Having been allowed to make a show of that “battle” for her constituents, she now suddenly is throwing her hat in the ring for RFK Jr’s confirmation.

🚨 #BREAKING: Sen. Susan Collins, who was previously “on the fence,” has announced she is SUPPORTING RFK JR. for HHS Secretary

IT’S HAPPENING! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/NWgMimtgmC

— Nick Sortor (@nicksortor) February 10, 2025

Isn’t it funny that she directly referenced that topic when confirming her “Yes” vote to CNN’s Raju?

Sen. Collins was one of the three GOP senators who consistently proves problematic in the Senate for President Trump’s nominees.

Even so, as early as a week ago the “odds” of RFK Jr’s confirmation had gone way up.

And then with a direct reference to the National Institutes of Health grandstanding Collins was allowed to do (if you ask me…), she is now on board with RFK Jr, according to Forbes:

Kennedy’s odds of achieving confirmation soared, according to election betting platforms, with Kalshi placing his odds at 96% and blockchain-based site Polymarket showing a 97% chance of confirmation.

Collins—one of three GOP senators who was previously considered a possible hurdle for Kennedy—told CNN’s Manu Raju she plans to vote for Kennedy after he “seemed to understand the concerns that I was raising” and told her he would “re-examine” the White House’s National Institute of Health cuts she earlier said would be “devastating, stopping vital biomedical research and leading to the loss of jobs.”

I’m sure after RFK Jr. is doing some moving and shaking in the Health and Human Services Department — and not, I can assure you, allowing the wasteful spending that President Trump and DOGE have already started to halt — Collins will probably raise her hand an protest.

Maybe… but not much.

She’ll likely wag her finger for those mega-donors back home who are upset with her for putting the likes of RFK Jr. in charge of the highest federal health authority in the nation.

But at the end of the day, the simple fact is that it’s hard for someone to argue with plain spoken truth and common sense, when all you bring to the table is political posturing and fickle arguments meant for the moment, without principled grounding.

That’s a hard battle to fight… even for RINOs.