The GOP senator whose vote secured Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s appointment as health secretary has finally had enough.
Sen. Bill Cassidy—a pro-vaccine physician who until now had declined to say whether Kennedy misled him about his anti-vaccine views—unveiled a plan Tuesday to overhaul the Food and Drug Administration. The Louisiana Republican is calling for a sweeping review of the agency’s regulatory oversight and other major changes, according to an 18-page document he released online.
“Biomedical innovation holds enormous promise for the American people,” Cassidy, chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, wrote. “But ‘innovation’ is meaningless unless it creates products that actually help patients.”
In the report, Cassidy sharply criticized the FDA’s failure to modernize and argued that adopting AI tools is necessary to make the agency more efficient. The blunt assessment could signal that the senator has abandoned his efforts to repair his relationship with President Donald Trump after voting to impeach him for “incitement of insurrection” following the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.
Cassidy’s vote to confirm Kennedy, despite Kennedy’s long history of anti-vaccine views, was widely seen as part of that effort. A post pinned to Cassidy’s X account shows him standing beside the president behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as Trump signs red MAGA hats.
“Great to be with POTUS in the Oval Office today!” the post reads. “This is what a great working relationship looks like.”
But his efforts appear to have done little to sway Trump. Last month, the president endorsed Louisiana Rep. Julia Letlow against Cassidy, who is running for reelection this year. The endorsement reportedly caught GOP senators—and Letlow herself—by surprise.
“RUN, JULIA, RUN!!!” the president urged Letlow, 44, in a lengthy Truth Social post on Jan. 17.
“I know Julia well, have seen her tested at the highest and most difficult levels, and she is a TOTAL WINNER! A Proud Mother of two children, Julia is a wonderful person, has ALWAYS delivered for Louisiana, and would continue doing so in the United States Senate,” Trump wrote.
In response, Cassidy wrote on X: “I’m proudly running for re-election as a principled conservative who gets things done for the people of Louisiana. If Congresswoman Letlow decides to run I am confident I will win.”
As for his vote to confirm Kennedy, Cassidy has not publicly expressed regret. But he has clashed with several of Kennedy’s anti-vaccine policies, many of which Kennedy had previously assured him would remain unchanged.
It remains unclear how Kennedy will respond to Cassidy’s proposed overhaul. Five months after inviting Kennedy to testify before the health committee he chairs, Cassidy has yet to secure an appearance.
The Daily Beast has reached out to representatives for Cassidy and the Department of Health and Human Services.
The post Regretful MAGA Senator Hits Breaking Point With RFK Jr. appeared first on The Daily Beast.
