Sen. Maria Cantwell, D-Wash., asked about Kennedy's views about PBMs. She cited reports indicating that PBMs may be increasing prescription drug spending.

"Trump is absolutely committed to fixing the PBMs," Kennedy said. "I think that we need to reform the PBMs. I think we need to get rid of all of these vested interests that are draining money from the system .... Trump wants to get the excess profits away from the PBMs and send it back to primary care, to patients in this country."

Affordable Care Act: Sen. Ralph Warnock, D-Ga., asked Kennedy about the fate of the current, expanded eligibility rules for Affordable Care Act health insurance premium tax credit subsidies.

The current rules make subsidies available to any ACA public exchange user for whom premiums for standard coverage would exceed about 9% of income. If the current rules expire, the tax credits would be available only to ACA public exchange users with income under 400% of the federal poverty level.

"Do you support Congress extending these tax credits?" Warnock asked.

"Congress has to make its own decisions about that," Kennedy said.

Warnock asked Kennedy to give a yes-or-no answer to the question.

"I'm not going to answer a yes-or-no question that's not susceptible to an honest yes-or-no answer," Kennedy said.

The process: The Senate Finance Committee could vote on Kennedy's nomination next week.

The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pension Committee has scheduled a nomination hearing with Kennedy for today, but Senate HELP members will not get to hold a committee vote on the nomination.

A final confirmation vote would have to come from the full Senate.