Kennedy's condition is called spasmodic dysphonia, which is a neurologic disorder that can affect the voice and speech by causing the muscles that generate a person’s voice to go into periods of spasm, according to Penn Medicine. It is a lifelong condition, but can be improved with treatment in some cases, according to Penn Medicine.

What to know from Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s hearings before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday and the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions on Thursday.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former presidential candidate and environmental activist, endorsed Donald Trump last year and threw his weight behind a campaign to “Make America Healthy Again.” For the past two decades he has been best known for airing skeptical views on vaccines.

Spasmodic dysphonia (SD), sometimes referred to as laryngeal dystonia, is a rare neurological condition impacting the voice and speech that impacts approximately 50,000 people in North America. For people with SD, muscles spasms in the larynx (also known as the voice box) cause the voice to sound tight, strangled or strained.

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.

Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy is the eldest daughter of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who could be confirmed as health secretary in Trump's administration.

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

One of the hottest topics in the coverage of his confirmation hearing was RFK Jr.'s unusually gruff speaking voice. But the raspy sound to his voice is not the result of an infection or respiratory condition;