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Senator Bill Cassidy (R), a politician turned into a deep red Louisiana doctor, has appeared as a central figure in the confirmation struggle on Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to run the Department of Health and Human Services.
For six hours in two audiences, Cassidy stated that he has serious doubts as to whether Kennedy is described in directing the agency, throwing a cloud of uncertainty along the path of Kennedy’s confirmation.
“I have been fighting with your candidacy,” Cassidy told Kennedy at the end of the health of the Senate Health, Education, Work and Pensions Committee (HELP) on Thursday.
He said that the fundamental question is whether Kennedy will use his mass and national prominence to support public health or harm it.
“And I have to discover -for my vote,” said Cassidy.
Cassidy offered Kennedy many opportunities on Thursday to give up his false statements that vaccines cause autism, sometimes practically begging Kennedy to disavow the bond.
“Man, if you go out unequivocally,” vaccines are safe, they do not cause autism, “this would have an incredible impact,” said Cassidy.
But Kennedy, who has resigned from his previous opinions on abortion to align with President Trump, refused to do so.
“If you show me data,” Kennedy said, “I will be the first person to secure in the North -American people who need to take these vaccines.”
Although the help committee that Cassidy chairs will not vote in Kennedy, is also on the Finance Committee, where it could be a fundamental vote. Republicans have a single seat advantage, so if all Democrats vote against Kennedy, Cassidy will have the power to deny him a favorable recommendation.
If Kennedy erases the Finance Committee, you can allow you to lose three republican votes on the Senate floor. The three GOP senators who voted against the Secretary of Defense, Pete Hegseth, Sens. Mitch McConnell (Ky.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Susan Collins (Maine), are also seen as potential comforts in Kennedy.
The way Cassidy manages Kennedy’s situation will have serious political consequences for the second term senator, who is being appreciated by his loyalty to Trump and his commitment to medicine, having spent three decades as a practicing gastroenterologist.
Robert Hogan, President of the Department and Professor of Political Science at Louisiana State University, said that Cassidy has spent years trying to cultivate a image of himself as a reasonable conservative.
“The doctor of his biography stands out in a prominent way in everything he does. He wants to be seen as an expert in this area,” Hogan said. “This vote acknowledges that it is something that can damage your brand that has spent so much time trying to perfect for the years.”
There is enormous pressure on Cassidy by Kennedy allies and Republicans at home.
Earlier this week, Louisiana Freedom Caucus sent a letter to Cassidy instant -to confirm Kennedy.
Louisiana governor Jeff Landry (R) in a separate letter also asked Cassidy to confirm Kennedy.
Echoing the Freedom Caucus, Landry said that Kennedy would help to regain confidence in doctors and public health that was lost due to Biden administration policies during Covid-19 Pandemic.
“Kennedy turned out to be an asset to the state as we sailed by federal government edicts,” Landry wrote in the letter, that was published on social networks.
But Cassidy is already in disagreement with Republicans for his vote to condemn Trump in his arrest of 2021, so he was formally censored by the state’s GOP.
“Linchpin, you know, RFK will be Cassidy and has a very difficult choice,” said a source near Trump’s team. “It is very likely to have a very difficult primary and already … it has the weight on how it voted to prevent Trump.”
This feeling is evident to other conservatives.
After the Kennedy High Court on Thursday, Representative Clay Higgins (R-) caused Cassidy on social media.
“RFK will work HHS, whether you like it or not. The Senate is ours, and the time Trump decides that he has had enough random senators who delay our mission (the Vice President JD Vance) enters and takes Gavel as President. From the Senate. “Therefore, your conscience senator votes or not. In any way, we are looking at. “
Cassidy is re -election in 2026 and, although he has not formally announced, he has said he plans to direct.
Cassidy won his 2020 election in a landslide, but after voting against Trump, state Republicans changed the rules to create a closed primary, where only Republicans and people who are not registered in any other party can vote.
State treasurer John Fleming (R), a former member of the House, has already launched his main campaign against Cassidy.
Hogan said that Cassidy’s re -election offer is already an uphill battle.
“Even if Kennedy votes, I think he will be considered a little too late,” Hogan said.
A GOP assistant from the Senate said that Kennedy confirmation will be a “fundamental moment” in Si Cassidy works for re -election or retiring.
“If it is not an RFK, they think it will be withdrawn. And if this becomes the case, it becomes a lot of indecisive vote on much of Trump’s agenda advancing,” said the assistant.
Cassidy himself seemed to recognize the tension when he asked if Kennedy could hurt Trump’s legacy.
“I am a Republican … I want President Trump’s policies to be successful,” he said.
But if anyone does not vaccinated due to Kennedy’s “policies or attitudes” and then a disease that the vaccine can be avoided, Cassidy said that the fault would fall for Kennedy and, by extension, Trump.
“The biggest tragedy will be his death. But I can also say -you are an associated tragedy … that will shadow the legacy of President Trump, which I want to be the best absolute legacy, “said Cassidy.
Alex Gangitano contributed.
