Sen. Bill Cassidy’s loss in the Louisiana Republican primary over the weekend puts the future of the powerful Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee in flux.
During his tenure as HELP chair, Cassidy has pushed legislative priorities such as a proposal to establish pre-funded health savings accounts for people on the Affordable Care Act insurance exchanges, and often sought to elevate anti-abortion policies.
As he focused on policy goals, however, he clashed over the direction of the Department of Health and Human Services and struggled with several of President Donald Trump’s nominees, driving a further wedge between him and the president.
The result was that the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has gone without a permanent head for more than eight months and there’s no hearing date set for Trump’s most recent pick, Erica Schwartz.
The job of surgeon general has been vacant as Trump’s multiple picks for the role failed to garner enough support from Cassidy and other Republicans for committee approval. And the role of Food and Drug Administration commissioner is now vacant after Marty Makary resigned from his position following internal disputes within the administration.
