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.

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

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.

President Donald Trump has nominated Kennedy to be the secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, which oversees the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Medicare and Medicaid and helps enforce the Affordable Care Act commercial health insurance rules.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has said vaccines are not safe. His support for abortion access has made conservatives uncomfortable.

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.

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.

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