{"id":19360,"date":"2026-04-22T16:34:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T16:34:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/19360\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T16:34:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T16:34:20","slug":"as-rfk-jr-goes-before-senate-sen-cassidy-faces-tough-task","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/19360\/","title":{"rendered":"As RFK Jr. goes before Senate, Sen. Cassidy faces tough task"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bill Cassidy\u2019s roles as a lawmaker, a doctor and a political candidate are colliding on Wednesday as he questions Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.<\/a> in two high-stakes Senate hearings.<\/p>\n

The Louisiana Republican chairs one of the Senate committees that oversees Kennedy\u2019s department and sits on another, giving him two chances to interrogate the secretary about his plans for an agency responsible for public health programs and research. As a doctor, Cassidy has clashed with Kennedy\u2019s anti-vaccine ideas<\/a> even though he provided crucial support for the health secretary\u2019s nomination last year.<\/p>\n

At the same time, Cassidy is fighting for his political future in next month\u2019s primary in Louisiana, where President Donald Trump has endorsed one of his opponents<\/a> in an unusual attempt to oust a sitting senator from his own party. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Sen.<\/p>\n

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., speaks as Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appears before the Senate Finance Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein, File)<\/p>\n

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., speaks as Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr., appears before the Senate Finance Committee, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Sept. 4, 2025. (AP Photo\/Mark Schiefelbein, File)<\/p>\n

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How Cassidy handles the hearings could affect his chances at a pivotal moment of his reelection campaign and set the tone for how Congress oversees the nation\u2019s health agenda at a time of rampant distrust and misinformation.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s taken a risk showing any sort of resistance to RFK,\u201d said Claire Leavitt, an assistant professor at Smith College who studies congressional oversight. \u201cHe may pay an electoral price for that.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cassidy hasn\u2019t faced Kennedy in public since September. In the subsequent months, Kennedy has attempted a dramatic rollback of vaccine recommendations<\/a> that, if not blocked by an ongoing lawsuit<\/a>, could undermine protections against diseases like flu, hepatitis B and RSV.<\/p>\n

After a backlash, Kennedy has also pivoted to spending more time talking about less controversial topics like healthy eating \u2014 albeit with his own spin, including sharing exaggerated claims that various ailments can be cured by diet alone<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Cassidy will have to decide on Wednesday whether to grill Kennedy on vaccines, an issue deeply important to him, or put their differences aside and prioritize loyalty to the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

In his first opportunity to question Kennedy on Wednesday morning, Cassidy didn\u2019t bring up vaccines at all. Instead, he focused on health care affordability and rooting out fraud in federal health care systems, both of which have been priorities for him in Congress.<\/p>\n

Cassidy has long advocated for vaccines<\/p>\n

Cassidy has spent years walking a political tightrope. He\u2019s one of the few Republican senators who voted to convict Trump during an impeachment trial<\/a> after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. <\/p>\n

As a liver doctor, he advocated for babies to receive hepatitis B vaccines shortly after birth, a step that could have prevented the disease in his patients. But when Trump nominated Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, Cassidy supported him. He did so after securing various commitments, including that Kennedy would work within the current vaccine approval and safety monitoring system and support the childhood vaccine schedule.<\/p>\n

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The vote for Kennedy did not appear to mollify Trump. The president endorsed U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow<\/a>, one of Cassidy\u2019s two primary opponents. <\/p>\n

Cassidy also faces opposition from Kennedy\u2019s allies in the \u201cMake America Healthy Again\u201d movement, a group that includes both anti-vaccine activists and a wide variety of other crusaders for health and the environment. The MAHA PAC, aligned with Kennedy, has pledged $1 million to Letlow\u2019s campaign. While the organization hasn\u2019t publicly said so, some have questioned whether the support is partly in retaliation against Cassidy for criticizing Kennedy\u2019s vaccine policy agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m not really sure what MAHA\u2019s beef is,\u201d Cassidy told reporters earlier this month. \u201cLet me point out that I am the reason that Robert F. Kennedy is now the secretary of HHS. He would not have gotten there otherwise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cassidy argues that he has \u201cstrongly supported\u201d the MAHA agenda, especially when it comes to the fight against ultraprocessed foods. However, the physician-turned-senator acknowledged that he and MAHA have \u201cdisagreed on vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen, frankly, that I am right,\u201d Cassidy added, pointing to recent measles-related deaths<\/a> of children who were not vaccinated.<\/p>\n

At a hearing in September<\/a>, he slammed Kennedy\u2019s decision to slash funding for mRNA vaccine development. He interrogated Kennedy over his attempt to replace members of a vaccine committee, suggesting the new members could have conflicts of interest. He also raised concerns that Kennedy\u2019s vaccine policy decisions could be making it harder for Americans to get COVID-19 shots.<\/p>\n

Later that month, Cassidy convened a hearing<\/a> featuring former U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez, who was ousted by Kennedy less than a month into her tenure after they clashed over vaccine policy, and former CDC Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry, who resigned in August citing an erosion of science at the agency.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to work with the president to fulfill his campaign promise to reform the CDC and Make America Healthy Again. The president says radical transparency is the way to do that,\u201d Cassidy said at the time. <\/p>\n

Experts say Cassidy\u2019s vaccine stance might not hurt him<\/p>\n

Political consultants said they expect Cassidy\u2019s primary opponents, Letlow and Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, to seize on any sound bites from Wednesday\u2019s hearings that can make Cassidy seem at odds with the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

But Dorit Reiss, a vaccine law expert at UC Law San Francisco, said the political risk of advocating for vaccines may not be as strong among Republicans as some people assume. <\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s probably not alienating voters by focusing on the issue and calling it out,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Louisiana political consultant Mary-Patricia Wray said she thinks most diehard MAHA voters already know who they are voting for, and it\u2019s probably not Cassidy.<\/p>\n

Instead, she said, he may still be able to appeal to Democrats who switch their party registration to vote in the primary, as well as a wide swath of still-undecided Republican voters who care about the same health care affordability issues he advocates for every day in Congress.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I was advising Bill Cassidy, I would tell him your goal here is not to get out unscathed,\u201d Wray said. \u201cYour goal is to prove that your consistency on issues regarding public health is an asset in your campaign, not a detriment.\u201d<\/p>\n

Election outcome will shape future oversight of HHS<\/p>\n

Also at stake if Cassidy doesn\u2019t make it to November\u2019s general election is what will happen to his responsibility to oversee the massive U.S. Department of Health and Human Services as the chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee.<\/p>\n

Leavitt, the Smith College professor, said seniority typically plays the most important role in who chairs Senate committees. She said another Republican in today\u2019s increasingly hyperpartisan Congress may not be as willing as Cassidy to check Kennedy\u2019s power.<\/p>\n

Reiss, the vaccine law expert, said she wishes Cassidy had done more hearings or introduced legislation to rein in Kennedy. And she said the senator bears the blame for allowing Kennedy to bring unfounded vaccine fears into the government in the first place.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis original sin, of course, was voting for Kennedy at all,\u201d Reiss said.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Associated Press writer Sara Cline contributed to this report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bill Cassidy\u2019s roles as a lawmaker, a doctor and a political candidate are colliding on Wednesday as he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19361,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[362,61,1064,11132,11758,38,50,8,62,2028,2034,11755,2489,2490,11754,9,67,11756,2035,1371,11757,7,11704,54,100,69],"class_list":{"0":"post-19360","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-2026-elections","9":"tag-ap-top-news","10":"tag-bill-cassidy","11":"tag-centers-for-disease-control-and-prevention","12":"tag-debra-houry","13":"tag-donald-trump","14":"tag-general-news","15":"tag-headlines","16":"tag-health","17":"tag-immunizations","18":"tag-john-f-kennedy","19":"tag-julia-letlow","20":"tag-la-state-wire","21":"tag-louisiana","22":"tag-mary-patricia-wray","23":"tag-news","24":"tag-politics","25":"tag-robert-f-kennedy","26":"tag-robert-f-kennedy-jr","27":"tag-science","28":"tag-susan-monarez","29":"tag-top-stories","30":"tag-u-s-department-of-health-and-human-services","31":"tag-u-s-news","32":"tag-united-states-government","33":"tag-washington-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116449330005779172","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19360"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19360\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19361"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}