Bill Cassidy’s roles arsenic a lawmaker, a doc and a governmental campaigner volition collide connected Wednesday arsenic helium questions Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. successful 2 high-stakes Senate hearings.
The Louisiana Republican chairs 1 of the Senate committees that oversees Kennedy's section and sits connected another, giving him 2 chances to interrogate the caput astir his plans for an bureau liable for nationalist wellness programs and research. As a doctor, Cassidy has clashed with Kennedy’s anti-vaccine ideas adjacent though helium provided important enactment for the wellness secretary's information past year.
At the aforesaid time, Cassidy is warring for his governmental aboriginal successful adjacent month’s primary, wherever President Donald Trump has endorsed 1 of his opponents successful an antithetic effort to oust a sitting legislator from his ain party.
How Cassidy handles the hearings could impact his chances astatine a pivotal infinitesimal of his reelection run and acceptable the code for however Congress oversees the nation's wellness docket astatine a clip of rampant distrust and misinformation.
Cassidy hasn't faced Kennedy successful nationalist since September. In the consequent months, Kennedy has attempted a melodramatic rollback of vaccine recommendations that, if not blocked by an ongoing lawsuit, could undermine protections against diseases similar flu, hepatitis B and RSV.
After a backlash, Kennedy has besides pivoted to spending much clip talking astir little arguable topics similar steadfast eating — albeit with his ain spin, including sharing exaggerated claims that assorted ailments tin beryllium cured by fare alone.
Cassidy volition person to determine connected Wednesday whether to grill Kennedy connected vaccines, an contented profoundly important to him, oregon enactment their differences speech and prioritize loyalty to the Trump administration.
“He’s taken a hazard showing immoderate benignant of absorption to RFK,” said Claire Leavitt, an adjunct prof astatine Smith College who studies legislature oversight. “He whitethorn wage an electoral terms for that.”
Cassidy has spent years walking a governmental tightrope. He's 1 of the fewer Republican senators who voted to convict Trump during an impeachment proceedings aft the Jan. 6, 2021 onslaught connected the U.S. Capitol.
As a liver doctor, helium advocated for babies to person hepatitis B vaccines soon aft birth, a measurement that could person prevented the illness successful his patients. But erstwhile Trump nominated Kennedy, a longtime anti-vaccine activist, Cassidy supported him. He did truthful aft securing assorted commitments, including that Kennedy would enactment wrong the existent vaccine support and information monitoring strategy and enactment the puerility vaccine schedule.
The ballot for Kennedy did not look to mollify Trump. The president endorsed U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, 1 of Cassidy's 2 superior opponents.
Cassidy besides faces absorption from Kennedy's allies successful the “Make America Healthy Again” movement, a radical that includes some anti-vaccine activists and a wide assortment of different crusaders for wellness and the environment. The MAHA PAC, aligned with Kennedy, has pledged $1 cardinal to Letlow’s campaign. While the enactment hasn't publically said so, immoderate person questioned whether the enactment is partially successful retaliation against Cassidy for criticizing Kennedy's vaccine argumentation agenda.
“I’m not truly definite what MAHA’s beef is," Cassidy told reporters earlier this month. “Let maine constituent retired that I americium the crushed that Robert F. Kennedy is present the caput of HHS. He would not person gotten determination otherwise."
Cassidy argues that helium has “strongly supported” the MAHA agenda, particularly erstwhile it comes to the combat against ultraprocessed foods. However, the physician-turned-senator acknowledged that helium and MAHA person “disagreed connected vaccines."
“We’ve seen, frankly, that I americium right," Cassidy added, pointing to caller measles-related deaths of children who were not vaccinated.
At a proceeding successful September, helium slammed Kennedy’s determination to slash backing for mRNA vaccine development. He interrogated Kennedy implicit his effort to regenerate members of a vaccine committee, suggesting the caller members could person conflicts of interest. He besides raised concerns that Kennedy's vaccine argumentation decisions could beryllium making it harder for Americans to get COVID-19 shots.
Later that month, Cassidy convened a proceeding featuring erstwhile U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Susan Monarez, who was ousted by Kennedy little than a period into her tenure aft they clashed implicit vaccine policy, and erstwhile CDC Chief Medical Officer Debra Houry, who resigned successful August citing an erosion of subject astatine the agency.
“I privation to enactment with the president to fulfill his run committedness to betterment the CDC and Make America Healthy Again. The president says extremist transparency is the mode to bash that,” Cassidy said astatine the time.
Political consultants said they expect Cassidy’s superior opponents, Letlow and Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, to prehend connected immoderate dependable bites from Wednesday’s hearings that tin marque Cassidy look astatine likelihood with the Trump administration.
But Dorit Reiss, a vaccine instrumentality adept astatine UC Law San Francisco, said the governmental hazard of advocating for vaccines whitethorn not beryllium arsenic beardown among Republicans arsenic immoderate radical assume.
“He’s astir apt not alienating voters by focusing connected the contented and calling it out,” she said.
Louisiana governmental advisor Mary-Patricia Wray said she thinks astir diehard MAHA voters already cognize who they are voting for, and it’s astir apt not Cassidy.
Instead, she said, helium whitethorn inactive beryllium capable to entreaty to Democrats who power their enactment registration to ballot successful the primary, arsenic good arsenic a wide swath of still-undecided Republican voters who attraction astir the aforesaid wellness attraction affordability issues helium advocates for each time successful Congress.
“If I was advising Bill Cassidy, I would archer him your extremity present is not to get retired unscathed,” Wray said. “Your extremity is to beryllium that your consistency connected issues regarding nationalist wellness is an plus successful your campaign, not a detriment.”
Also astatine involvement if Cassidy doesn’t marque it to November’s wide predetermination is what volition hap to his work to oversee the monolithic U.S. Department of Health and Human Services arsenic the seat of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee.
Leavitt, the Smith College professor, said seniority typically plays the astir important relation successful who chairs Senate committees. She said different Republican successful today’s progressively hyper-partisan Congress whitethorn not beryllium arsenic consenting arsenic Cassidy to cheque Kennedy’s power.
Reiss, the vaccine instrumentality expert, said she wishes Cassidy had done much hearings oregon introduced authorities to rein successful Kennedy. And she said the legislator bears the blasted for allowing Kennedy to bring unfounded vaccine fears into the authorities successful the archetypal place.
“His archetypal sin, of course, was voting for Kennedy astatine all,” Reiss said.
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Associated Press writer Sara Cline contributed to this report.
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