Governor Jeff Landry has called on the U.S. Senate, specifically Senator Bill Cassidy, to support Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Cassidy says he hasn’t decided how he will vote yet.
“I’m neither blindly opposed nor do I blindly support, Cassidy said. “I am for the future of the United States of America and for the State of Louisiana.”
Kennedy’s first confirmation hearing is Wednesday before the Senate Finance Committee. He’ll go before the Senate Health, Education. Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday and Cassidy chairs that committee.
Kennedy is a controversial choice to lead the U.S. Health Department because of his repeated claims that vaccines have led to an increase in autism among individuals. There decades of scientific evidence debunks that theory and Cassidy also has his concerns about Kennedy’s vaccine skepticism.
“Some of the things he said were just not true,” Cassidy said. “For example, for Hepatitis B vaccines there were no safety trials. I actually performed Hepatitis B vaccine safety trials many years ago, decades ago now. There’s a lot of safety data we accumulated.”
Cassidy, who is up for re-election in 2026, faces political pressure from within his own party and RFK’s confirmation could play a role in his re-election. Cassidy says he will wait until after the confirmation hearing to make his decision on Kennedy.
“I’m still working through it,” Cassidy said. “I look forward to the hearing and I will use that to guide my decision. If you’re talking about the campaign. When it comes time to focus on the campaign, I’ll focus on the campaign.”
If Kennedy is confirmed, he’ll have enormous power over 18 agencies that establishes public health guidance and policy.
In a letter sent to Cassidy and South Dakota Senator John Thune, Landry says America’s health continues to decline, and the country needs a leader who will shake up the status quo.
Comments