Bill Cassidy Folds on Trump CDC Pick After Getting Tiny Concession

All eyes were on Bill Cassidy once again this week in anticipation of how the Louisiana senator and physician would vote on the confirmation of President Donald Trump’s latest nominee to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Though Cassidy has sought to play up his disagreements with the Trump administration over its changes to public health policy and its controversial nominees, he indicated on Thursday that he intends to support the president’s pick, curiously citing a small change to the agency’s website.

Cassidy made his support of Dr. Erica Schwartz public during a Thursday meeting of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, of which he’s the chairman. In his remarks, Cassidy noted the critical challenges facing the CDC, noting the historic rise of measles cases and the prevalence of health misinformation amid a loss of faith in public-health officials. While the senator appeared far from convinced about Schwartz’s responses to his questioning during her confirmation hearing last week, Cassidy expressed confidence in her ability to do the job. The panel’s scheduled vote for Schwartz that day was postponed to next week due to several absences.

“After speaking with Dr. Schwartz again after the hearing, reviewing the transcript, and speaking to those who have served with her and know her well, I’m confident that she knows what she is doing and will stand against those who do not,” he said.

But then Cassidy cited a move from the Department of Health and Human Services, saying the agency made a recent change to a page on its website focused on vaccines and autism — an issue that he has long disagreed with the administration on due to his background as a physician. “As a sign of good faith, HHS has now modified the CDC’s autism and vaccines web page. There’s more to do to repair damage that has been done to the U.S. public health response, but this is a start,” he said.

Last year, the Washington Post reported that the CDC’s “Autism and Vaccines” web page — which definitively stated that there’s no link between vaccines and autism — was controversially changed to suggest that studies proving such a link “have been ignored by health authorities” and that studies “have not ruled out the possibility that infant vaccines cause autism.” In addition, a subheader on the page that read, “Vaccines do not cause Autism,” was marked with an asterisk that led to a footnote explaining that the statement wasn’t removed due to an agreement with Cassidy who criticized the rewritten web page.

The change that Cassidy is now touting appears to be an altered footnote that hardly seems to send the pro-vaccine message one might expect as the asterisk on the statement remains. “Scientists have not identified the root causes of autism. HHS continues to support rigorous scientific research and will update this page as reliable new evidence becomes available,” the note reads.

It was back in April that Trump announced he had selected Dr. Erica Schwartz, a former deputy surgeon general and former chief medical officer for the U.S. Coast Guard, to serve as his CDC director. “She is a STAR!” Trump wrote in his Truth Social post revealing her nomination.

The CDC has been without a permanent director since last year following the unceremonious ouster of Susan Monarez after she clashed with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over changes to the nation’s vaccine policy.