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MaddowBlog-GOP's Cassidy criticizes RFK Jr.'s vaccine schedule, but the senator still isn't ready to act
The Louisiana Republican keeps complaining about Kennedy but failing to use his considerable powers.
Bill Cassidy spent 2025 criticizing RFK Jr’s radical moves, but failing to actually do anything meaningful, despite his powerful committee chairmanship.
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-01-06T15:00:25.696Z
In 2026, the senator is offering more of the same, indifferent to the consequences of his passivity. www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...
https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/vaccine-schedule-revised-rfk-jr-bill-cassidy
Commenting on the development, Michael Osterholm, a professor of public health at the University of Minnesota, told The New York Times, “Today is a defining moment for our country. We can no longer trust federal health authorities when it comes to vaccines.”
Alas, 2026 is already off to a similarly crushing start. As my MS NOW colleague Will McDuffie reported:
The announcement is not binding, but as McDuffie’s report added, the CDC’s recommendations “carry great weight with local health officials” — even, in this instance, when they shouldn’t......
Cassidy, in a position of real power and influence on Capitol Hill, has plenty of other options. He could concede publicly that confirming Kennedy was a tragic mistake; he could call for Kennedy’s resignation; he could even schedule hearings and haul officials from HHS, CDC and the Food and Drug Administration to Capitol Hill to demand answers and changes.
Cassidy isn’t doing any of these things. He’s instead posting occasionally to social media to criticize radical and dangerous public health moves in the mildest of ways.
I obviously can’t read the senator’s mind. It’s possible that the Louisianan is worried about the GOP primary challenge he’s facing this year, which has led him to believe he’s better off avoiding fights with one of Donald Trump’s Cabinet secretaries. It’s also possible that Cassidy has faced behind-the-scenes pressure from Republican leaders not to do anything more consequential.
Whatever his motivation, Cassidy can’t escape responsibility for the damage Kennedy and his cohorts are doing to the nation’s public health, and while he could take meaningful action in response, the senator has chosen not to, seemingly indifferent to the consequences of his passivity.
Alas, 2026 is already off to a similarly crushing start. As my MS NOW colleague Will McDuffie reported:
U.S. health officials announced Monday that they would dramatically reduce the number of vaccinations recommended for babies and children, a decision that officials say they made after reviewing the childhood vaccine schedules of other developed countries.
The Trump administration announced it was reducing the number of diseases it routinely recommends children be vaccinated against from 17 to 11, a move that had been long signaled by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. It means the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will no longer broadly recommend children receive vaccines for rotavirus, influenza, meningococcal disease, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) and hepatitis A and B.
The announcement is not binding, but as McDuffie’s report added, the CDC’s recommendations “carry great weight with local health officials” — even, in this instance, when they shouldn’t......
Cassidy, in a position of real power and influence on Capitol Hill, has plenty of other options. He could concede publicly that confirming Kennedy was a tragic mistake; he could call for Kennedy’s resignation; he could even schedule hearings and haul officials from HHS, CDC and the Food and Drug Administration to Capitol Hill to demand answers and changes.
Cassidy isn’t doing any of these things. He’s instead posting occasionally to social media to criticize radical and dangerous public health moves in the mildest of ways.
I obviously can’t read the senator’s mind. It’s possible that the Louisianan is worried about the GOP primary challenge he’s facing this year, which has led him to believe he’s better off avoiding fights with one of Donald Trump’s Cabinet secretaries. It’s also possible that Cassidy has faced behind-the-scenes pressure from Republican leaders not to do anything more consequential.
Whatever his motivation, Cassidy can’t escape responsibility for the damage Kennedy and his cohorts are doing to the nation’s public health, and while he could take meaningful action in response, the senator has chosen not to, seemingly indifferent to the consequences of his passivity.