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RFK Jr. Sen. Hearings Challenge Cassidy04/22 06:11
(AP) -- Bill Cassidy's roles as a lawmaker, a doctor and a political
candidate will collide on Wednesday as he questions Health Secretary Robert F.
Kennedy Jr. in two high-stakes Senate hearings.
The Louisiana Republican chairs one of the Senate committees that oversees
Kennedy's 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's
anti-vaccine ideas even though he provided crucial support for the health
secretary's nomination last year.
At the same time, Cassidy is fighting for his political future in next
month's primary, where President Donald Trump has endorsed one of his opponents
in an unusual attempt to oust a sitting senator from his own party.
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's health agenda at a time of rampant distrust and misinformation.
Cassidy hasn't faced Kennedy in public since September. In the subsequent
months, Kennedy has attempted a dramatic rollback of vaccine recommendations
that, if not blocked by an ongoing lawsuit, could undermine protections against
diseases like flu, hepatitis B and RSV.
After a backlash, Kennedy has also pivoted to spending more time talking
about less controversial topics like healthy eating -- albeit with his own
spin, including sharing exaggerated claims that various ailments can be cured
by diet alone.
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.
"He's taken a risk showing any sort of resistance to RFK," said Claire
Leavitt, an assistant professor at Smith College who studies congressional
oversight. "He may pay an electoral price for that."
Cassidy has long advocated for vaccines
Cassidy has spent years walking a political tightrope. He's one of the few
Republican senators who voted to convict Trump during an impeachment trial
after the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol.
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.
The vote for Kennedy did not appear to mollify Trump. The president endorsed
U.S. Rep. Julia Letlow, one of Cassidy's two primary opponents.
Cassidy also faces opposition from Kennedy's allies in the "Make America
Healthy Again" 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's campaign. While the
organization hasn't publicly said so, some have questioned whether the support
is partly in retaliation against Cassidy for criticizing Kennedy's vaccine
policy agenda.
"I'm not really sure what MAHA's beef is," Cassidy told reporters earlier
this month. "Let 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."
Cassidy argues that he has "strongly supported" the MAHA agenda, especially
when it comes to the fight against ultraprocessed foods. However, the
physician-turned-senator acknowledged that he and MAHA have "disagreed on
vaccines."
"We've seen, frankly, that I am right," Cassidy added, pointing to recent
measles-related deaths of children who were not vaccinated.
At a hearing in September, he slammed Kennedy's 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's vaccine policy
decisions could be making it harder for Americans to get COVID-19 shots.
Later that month, Cassidy convened a hearing 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.
"I 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," Cassidy said at the time.
Experts say Cassidy's vaccine stance might not hurt him
Political consultants said they expect Cassidy's primary opponents, Letlow
and Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming, to seize on any sound bites from
Wednesday's hearings that can make Cassidy seem at odds with the Trump
administration.
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.
"He's probably not alienating voters by focusing on the issue and calling it
out," she said.
Louisiana political consultant Mary-Patricia Wray said she thinks most
diehard MAHA voters already know who they are voting for, and it's probably not
Cassidy.
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.
"If I was advising Bill Cassidy, I would tell him your goal here is not to
get out unscathed," Wray said. "Your goal is to prove that your consistency on
issues regarding public health is an asset in your campaign, not a detriment."
Election outcome will shape future oversight of HHS
Also at stake if Cassidy doesn't make it to November's 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.
Leavitt, the Smith College professor, said seniority typically plays the
most important role in who chairs Senate committees. She said another
Republican in today's increasingly hyper-partisan Congress may not be as
willing as Cassidy to check Kennedy's power.
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.
"His original sin, of course, was voting for Kennedy at all," Reiss said.
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