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

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.

If approved, Kennedy will control a $1.7 trillion agency that oversees food and hospital inspections, hundreds of health clinics, vaccine recommendations and health insurance for roughly half the country.

To watch Kennedy's confirmation hearing, viewers can look to the Senate Finance Committee website on Wednesday and the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee website on Thursday. C-SPAN and a plethora of broadcast and cable media outlets will broadcast live what is likely to be a contentious confirmation hearing on television.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was confronted with a number of his baseless claims and a vexing abortion issue. But Republican senators treaded lightly.

Caroline Kennedy, daughter of former President John F. Kennedy, warned senators of her “predator” cousin ahead of his first confirmation hearing on Wednesday. In a letter first reported by The Washington Post, she wrote that his victims included family members and parents of sick children.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is seeking the support of the Republican-controlled Senate in his bid to become the nation’s top health official.

In a letter to senators, Caroline Kennedy etches a damning sketch of her cousin, the latest condemnation Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has received from members of his family.

What experts on John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King Jr and Bobby Kennedy assassinations hope to learn from files expected to be declassified

President Donald Trump has doubled down on his baseless claim that diversity hiring could be to blame for a mid-air plane crash that killed 67 people.Trump ordered a review of all federal aviation hiring and safety decisions after Wednesday night's deadly crash between an American Airlines jet and a military helicopter,

The recent Senate confirmation hearings for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. presented a striking scene that would confuse a time traveler from 10 years ago. Democratic lawmakers took turns excoriating a man who once embodied their ideals. Sen. Bernie Sanders, seemingly grasping for gotchas, was reduced to questioning Kennedy about baby clothing merchandise.