Bill Cassidy faces pressure campaign from both sides ahead of key vote on whether to advance RFK Jr.’s nomination
CNN
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a former physician who has spent his career touting the safety of vaccines, will likely determine whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, becomes the country’s next Health and Human Services secretary.
Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a former physician who has spent his career touting the safety of vaccines, will likely determine whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, becomes the country’s next Health and Human Services secretary. Cassidy, a former gastroenterologist with a tough reelection campaign ahead, revealed at Thursday’s confirmation hearing he had “reservations” about Kennedy’s past positions on vaccine safety. The GOP senator then returned to his home state over the weekend to two conflicting pressure campaigns: one to stick to his previously held positions about vaccines and oppose Kennedy, and the other to support President Donald Trump’s nominee given that he hails from a ruby-red state that voted overwhelmingly for the president and his message. The onslaught of dual messages poured through the phone lines and stacked up in the office’s email inbox, with some users getting notices that the site was temporarily unavailable due to maintenance, according to notifications shared with CNN. Cassidy, who spoke to Kennedy over the weekend, according to a source familiar with the matter, has kept his decision close to the chest, but will reveal where he stands on Tuesday when the Senate Finance Committee votes on whether to advance Kennedy’s nomination, one of the final steps before the full Senate would vote. The state’s governor, Jeff Landry, and the Louisiana Freedom Caucus, a group of conservative state house members, each sent a letter to Cassidy last week urging him to back Kennedy’s nomination. One of the co-signers, Republican Louisiana state Rep. Beryl Amedée, put Cassidy’s vote in a political context, telling CNN, “I do believe that if he votes against this nomination, that would be like a nail in the coffin. For many people that are watching, that would be like the last straw.”
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Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, a former physician who has spent his career touting the safety of vaccines, will likely determine whether Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic, becomes the country’s next Health and Human Services secretary.
President Donald Trump moved swiftly to announce his selections for his next Cabinet and key administration posts in the days and weeks following the election. Now that Trump has been sworn in, it’s the Senate’s job to consider his nominations.