By all appearances, Sen. Bill Cassidy was conflicted over Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Cabinet nomination earlier this year. The Louisiana Republican — a gastroenterologist prior to his political career — expressed concerns over the longtime conspiracy theorist and anti-vaccine activist’s record, but the senator ultimately backed the nominee anyway, after receiving some private assurances.
Specifically, Cassidy told his colleagues in early February that if Kennedy became the nation’s health secretary, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention “will not remove statements on their website pointing out that vaccines do not cause autism.”
Nine months later, the CDC changed its website and started promoting misinformation related to vaccines and autism.
How, pray tell, did Cassidy react to the developments? Politico reported:
Cassidy said he’s deeply worried about vaccine misinformation, but declined to say he regrets his vote. ‘Life is lived forward. What I have to do is do my best to reassure the American people that vaccines are safe,’ Cassidy said in an interview with Punchbowl News.
If only it were so simple.
Given the linear nature of time, Cassidy obviously can’t go back and oppose Kennedy’s nomination, but accountability matters, especially among those in positions of authority.
The Louisiana Republican chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, which has oversight of the Department of Health and Human Services, and was responsible for confirming Kennedy in the first place. Cassidy stuck his neck out to support a profoundly unqualified nominee, only to have the nation’s health secretary prioritize unscientific nonsense over his commitments to the senator. Cassidy doesn’t have a time machine, but he does at least have the ability to try to put things right. The powerful Senate committee chair could concede publicly that confirming Kennedy was a tragic and costly mistake. He could call for the secretary’s resignation. He could schedule immediate hearings, haul RFK Jr. to Capitol Hill and read him the riot act while demanding the CDC’s public resources return to their scientific foundations. Rather, the senator is shrugging with platitudes like “Life is lived forward” — six months after assuring the public that Kennedy has “lived up” to his commitments on vaccines. It’s a good thing that Cassidy is prepared to do his best “to reassure the American people that vaccines are safe.” The trouble is that he has to compete with an anti-vaccine health secretary whom Cassidy helped put in office and whom he seems unwilling to condemn.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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