Senate panel advances Trump's CDC, pandemic nominees
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- Senate health committee approved Erica Schwartz as CDC director with support from all Republicans and Democrat Tim Kaine, while Sean Kaufman won unanimous Republican backing as assistant secretary for preparedness and response with all Democrats opposed
- Cassidy clashed with Kaufman during his hearing over past posts questioning vaccine safety and linking the hepatitis B shot to autism — remarks Kaufman later disowned — but backed him after unnamed HHS officials agreed to personnel changes and a firewall keeping Kaufman out of vaccine policy decisions
- Cassidy previously supported RFK Jr.'s February 2025 confirmation based on similar promises, which Kennedy subsequently broke by firing vaccine advisory panel members and replacing them with skeptics, unilaterally reducing recommended pediatric vaccines including delaying the hepatitis B birth dose
- HHS altered CDC website content to reverse the agency's position that vaccines do not cause autism; Cassidy called the minimal revisions 'almost an insult to the American people' on CNN and said further adjustments were coming
- Cassidy lost his reelection bid this year after Trump and Kennedy blamed him for blocking their Make America Healthy Again agenda, leaving him limited leverage to hold up future nominees including surgeon general pick Nicole Saphier and Kennedy adviser Chris Klomp
Why it matters: Cassidy is voting on faith alone: Kennedy already broke his past promises on vaccine policy, the CDC website still pushes debunked autism links, and Cassidy has dwindling leverage — he lost his reelection, faces a compressed timeline, and is approving nominees with documented anti-vaccine histories into roles guiding America's response to measles outbreaks and an Ebola flare-up in Africa.
