Washington — GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana on Sunday railed against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for what he called a “series of failures” at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services.
“This has been a failure. If I were president, I would choose someone else because there needs to be accountability for higher health care costs, more measles deaths, losing elimination status, and no progress on processed foods,” Cassidy said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.”
Cassidy, a medical doctor who’s leaving the Senate early next year after losing his reelection bid, has been locked in a bitter disagreement with the HHS secretary for months over his vaccine policy and other stances. Kennedy’s confirmation last year hinged on Cassidy’s support, and the Louisiana Republican ultimately backed the nomination after receiving what he called “serious commitments” from the administration. But the “collaborative working relationship” that Cassidy said he was promised has not appeared to pan out.
Last week, Kennedy suggested that Republicans had been holding back his Make America Healthy Again Agenda. And with the Senate GOP set to lose the majority in the new year, he said Republicans would no longer have leverage over him, while also pointing to a “friend of our movement” in President Trump’s new chief of staff, Stephen Miller.
“The Senate no longer has any leverage over me. And that’s a big deal,” Kennedy said on Nov. 9. “I don’t think anything is going to get in our way now.”
When asked about the comments, Cassidy said Kennedy is “obviously trying to provide cover for failure as Secretary of Health and Human Services.”
“He was supposed to be doing something positive on ultra-processed foods — that’s what MAHA moms wanted. There’s been minimal progress, and now we’ve lost our measles elimination status, and we have infants dying from measles,” Cassidy said. “So if you’re a MAHA mom and you are hoping for something better — and hundreds of them contacted me during this debate about whether to support the secretary for HHS secretary, that’s what they wanted — they have every right to be disappointed.”
Cassidy questioned the logic that with Democrats in charge, things will be easier for Kennedy, saying, “There is no logic. This is about covering a series of failures.”
Asked about the possibility of impeachment, which some Democrats have floated, Cassidy said, “You can impeach, I guess, over a ham sandwich, so they’ll have to decide what to do on that.” But Cassidy indicated that the attention should be on “the president’s decision.”
The Louisiana Republican argued that higher healthcare costs, losing measles elimination status, and seeing little progress on addressing ultra-processed foods, among other things, will “taint the president’s legacy.”
“If the president wants actually something positive, he should change,” Cassidy said. “And that’s just speaking politically. The American voters signaled at the midterm they don’t like status quo, particularly in health care, and I think it’s time for something different.”
Cassidy also responded to the U.S. losing its measles elimination status, saying that for unvaccinated adults, “You could be the person that brings death to another,” with implications for young children, pregnant women and immunocompromised individuals. He encouraged the president to speak out about how individuals can do as they wish, “but you can bring measles or some other disease into the health space of a child who’s not old enough to be vaccinated,” saying the message should be “pounded, pounded, pounded.”
The comments come as the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which Cassidy helms, is set to vote on Heidi Overton’s nomination for FDA commissioner this week. Asked whether he expects Overton’s nomination to advance out of committee, Cassidy said he wasn’t sure.
“I’ve been working the phones all week, both speaking with Dr. Overton, speaking with others. I still have questions, and so I cannot tell you the outcome of that vote right now,” Cassidy said. “But I spoke to four or five of my down-dias Republican members, as well as continuing to discuss things with my advisers. So I can’t tell you that answer yet.”
