2026年11月15日 美国东部时间下午2点26分 / CBS新闻
华盛顿报道——路易斯安那州共和党参议员比尔·卡西迪于周日强烈抨击小罗伯特·F·肯尼迪，指责他在执掌卫生与公众服务部（HHS）期间“一系列失败”。
卡西迪在《玛格丽特·布伦南的国家访谈》节目中表示：“这就是一场失败。如果我是总统，我会另选他人，因为在医疗成本攀升、麻疹死亡人数增加、丧失消除麻疹认证，以及加工食品问题毫无进展等方面，都需要有人为此负责。”
卡西迪是一名内科医生，因在连任选举中失利将于明年初提前结束参议员任期。数月来，他一直与卫生与公众服务部部长就疫苗政策及其他立场存在尖锐分歧。去年小肯尼迪获得参议院确认担任该部长时，曾依赖卡西迪的支持，最终这位路易斯安那州共和党人在得到政府方面他所称的“严肃承诺”后，才最终支持了这一提名。但卡西迪所称的“合作共事关系”并未真正建立起来。
上周，小肯尼迪暗示，共和党一直在阻碍他的“让美国再次健康”（MAHA）议程的推进。他还表示，随着参议院共和党人将于明年丧失多数党地位，共和党对他将不再有影响力，同时指出特朗普总统新任幕僚长斯蒂芬·米勒是“我们运动的朋友”。
“参议院对我再也没有任何影响力了。这可是件大事，”小肯尼迪在11月9日表示，“我认为现在没有任何事情能阻碍我们前进。”
当被问及对此言论的看法时，卡西迪称小肯尼迪“显然是在为自己担任卫生与公众服务部部长期间的失败找借口”。
卡西迪说道：“他本应在超加工食品问题上有所作为——这正是MAHA妈妈们所期望的。目前进展微乎其微，而且我们已经丧失了消除麻疹认证，现在还有婴幼儿死于麻疹。所以如果你是MAHA妈妈，期待情况有所改善——在是否支持这位卫生与公众服务部部长的辩论期间，有数百位这样的母亲联系过我，她们所期盼的就是这些——她们完全有权感到失望。”
卡西迪质疑“民主党掌控局面后，小肯尼迪的工作会更容易”的逻辑，称：“这没有任何逻辑可言。这完全是在为一系列失败打掩护。”
当被问及是否可能启动弹劾程序（部分民主党人已提出这一想法）时，卡西迪表示：“我想你甚至可以因为一份火腿三明治就启动弹劾，所以他们必须决定该怎么做。”不过卡西迪表示，注意力应集中在“总统的决定上”。
这位路易斯安那州共和党人认为，医疗成本攀升、丧失消除麻疹认证，以及在解决超加工食品问题上进展甚微等问题，将会“损害总统的遗产”。
“如果总统想真正做出一些积极的改变，他应该换人，”卡西迪表示，“而且这只是从政治角度而言。美国选民在中期选举中已发出信号，他们不喜欢现状，尤其是在医疗保健领域，我认为现在该来点不一样的了。”
针对美国丧失消除麻疹认证一事，卡西迪还作出回应，称未接种疫苗的成年人“可能成为将死亡带给他人的人”，这会对幼儿、孕妇和免疫功能低下人群造成影响。他敦促总统明确表态，虽然个人有权自行决定是否接种疫苗，“但你可能会将麻疹或其他疾病带到尚未到接种年龄的儿童健康领域”，并称这一信息应当“反复、反复、反复地强调”。
此番言论发表之际，卡西迪担任主席的参议院卫生、教育、劳工与养老金委员会本周将对海蒂·奥弗顿担任FDA（美国食品药品监督管理局）局长的提名进行投票。当被问及是否预计奥弗顿的提名能在委员会获得通过时，卡西迪表示尚不确定。
“我这周一直在打电话，与奥弗顿博士交谈，也与其他人沟通。我仍有一些疑问，所以现在无法告诉你们投票结果，”卡西迪说道，“但我已与四五名持不同立场的共和党成员进行了沟通，也在继续与我的顾问商讨。所以目前我还无法给出答案。”
Sen. Bill Cassidy slams RFK Jr. for “series of failures” as Health Secretary
November 15, 2026 / 2:26 PM EST / CBS News
Washington — GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana on Sunday railed against Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for what he called a “series of failures” at the helm of the Department of Health and Human Services.
“This has been a failure. If I were president, I would choose someone else because there needs to be accountability for higher health care costs, more measles deaths, losing elimination status, and no progress on processed foods,” Cassidy said on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan.
Cassidy, a medical doctor who’s leaving the Senate early next year after losing his reelection bid, has been locked in a bitter disagreement with the HHS secretary for months over his vaccine policy and other stances. Kennedy’s confirmation last year hinged on Cassidy’s support, and the Louisiana Republican ultimately backed the nomination after receiving what he called “serious commitments” from the administration. But the “collaborative working relationship” that Cassidy said he was promised has not appeared to pan out.
Last week, Kennedy suggested that Republicans had been holding back his Make America Healthy Again Agenda. And with the Senate GOP set to lose the majority in the new year, he said Republicans would no longer have leverage over him, while also pointing to a “friend of our movement” in President Trump’s new chief of staff, Stephen Miller.
“The Senate no longer has any leverage over me. And that’s a big deal,” Kennedy said on Nov. 9. “I don’t think anything is going to get in our way now.”
When asked about the comments, Cassidy said Kennedy is “obviously trying to provide cover for failure as Secretary of Health and Human Services.”
“He was supposed to be doing something positive on ultra-processed foods — that’s what MAHA moms wanted. There’s been minimal progress, and now we’ve lost our measles elimination status, and we have infants dying from measles,” Cassidy said. “So if you’re a MAHA mom and you are hoping for something better — and hundreds of them contacted me during this debate about whether to support the secretary for HHS secretary, that’s what they wanted — they have every right to be disappointed.”
Cassidy questioned the logic that with Democrats in charge, things will be easier for Kennedy, saying, “There is no logic. This is about covering a series of failures.”
Asked about the possibility of impeachment, which some Democrats have floated, Cassidy said, “You can impeach, I guess, over a ham sandwich, so they’ll have to decide what to do on that.” But Cassidy indicated that the attention should be on “the president’s decision.”
The Louisiana Republican argued that higher healthcare costs, losing measles elimination status, and seeing little progress on addressing ultra-processed foods, among other things, will “taint the president’s legacy.”
“If the president wants actually something positive, he should change,” Cassidy said. “And that’s just speaking politically. The American voters signaled at the midterm they don’t like status quo, particularly in health care, and I think it’s time for something different.”
Cassidy also responded to the U.S. losing its measles elimination status, saying that for unvaccinated adults, “You could be the person that brings death to another,” with implications for young children, pregnant women and immunocompromised individuals. He encouraged the president to speak out about how individuals can do as they wish, “but you can bring measles or some other disease into the health space of a child who’s not old enough to be vaccinated,” saying the message should be “pounded, pounded, pounded.”
The comments come as the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, which Cassidy helms, is set to vote on Heidi Overton’s nomination for FDA commissioner this week. Asked whether he expects Overton’s nomination to advance out of committee, Cassidy said he wasn’t sure.
“I’ve been working the phones all week, both speaking with Dr. Overton, speaking with others. I still have questions, and so I cannot tell you the outcome of that vote right now,” Cassidy said. “But I spoke to four or five of my down-dias Republican members, as well as continuing to discuss things with my advisers. So I can’t tell you that answer yet.”
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