chair cassidy: senator hawley. sen. i also asked your soon-to-be boss about when he was sitting right where you are and that is the use of abortive fetal tissue in nih funded tissue. i asked now secretary kennedy directly if you would reinstate president trump's policy that prohibits aborted fetal tissue research in nih funded grants. he said that he would. let me ask you the same to make sure we are on the same page. do you support that policy? will you prohibit the use of aborted fetal tissue in nih funded research? dr. bhattacharya: i will follow the lead of secretary kennedy and president trump on this. very quickly i will say why it is so important we have alternatives. during the pandemic i would often be on catholic radio and people would ask me whether the vaccines were made or developed with aborted fetal stem cells and i had to say yes. a lot of the folks were calling in and had ethical objections. in public health we need to make sure the products of the science are ethically acceptable to everybody. having a

chair cassidy: senator hickenlooper. sen. hickenlooper: i finally got a chance to look over your two books. i know there are more than that. each one seemed provocative. i will say i am a very slow reader. i am dyslexic. i wish that you had cliff's notes. 15 pages concise. dr. makary: i would be happy to personally summarize them for you, senator. sen. hickenlooper: i think that we had witnesses that just heard that. i'm very excited. i appreciate your courage on a lot of these traditional approaches. let me go through a couple of questions. in a few weeks, roughly 10% of the fda staff has been laid off. oh stte of these layoffs were inspectors who looked at either food supply, whether it was the safety of medical devices. yet, for the past several years job vacancies were measured as an indication in anything, but fda inspector jobs have been going up and not down. more unfilled spots now that we laid off 10% of the people. that chaos and understaffing will really present us a serious morale issue, which i'm sure that you ar

chair cassidy: senator blunt rochester. sen. blunt rochester: thank you so much for taking time to meet with me. i found that most parents will do anything to keep their children safe and healthy. which is why we probably see so much on the best ways to protect our children. the fda has historically been seen as the authority on reliable information about public health issues related to medical products, food, tobacco, cosmetics, dietary supplements. however, people are getting their information in different ways now from different places. we are faced with a growing challenge of opinions replacing scientific consensus and the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation. parents need accurate, science-based information to help make informed decisions for their children. how would you use your position as fda commissioner to compete with uninformed voices and to share evidence-based, consensus driven information that is free from political influence? dr. makary: thank you. i enjoyed our time meeting together. i believe ver

but cassidy, of course, is in a unique position. >> yeah. senator cassidy is running for reelection in a republican state. where? a primary here, he has a primary challenger. and that primary could be very ugly, especially if donald trump endorses his primary opponent. um, so, yeah, senator cassidy not only is in a unique position because he's at, you know, has a primary, but also he's a doctor and leading the health committee. but he ultimately voted for rfk. >> and the question is, will any of them begin to speak out if there are more of these issues that ultimately come up? right now they have not. they're waiting to see how he does. but how does the how does the public view some of these issues, including vaccines? there's an interesting poll that came out from the kaiser foundation, a family foundation, that talked about how republican parents and democratic leaning parents, how they whether they keep their kids up to date on vaccines. there has been a significant drop off 15 points for among republican leaning parents from 2023 to 2025

i put that question to senator bill cassidy. he is one of the.he actually gave a decisive vote to get him confirmed to the post. cassidy himself is a medical doctor, a republican from louisiana. i asked him about kennedy's comments. rfk jr. said that it's not unusual for a measles outbreak to occur as a medical doctor. do you have concerns about that? >> well, i'm very concerned about the measles. well, i'm very concerned about the measles outbreak. and so, um, and i'm strongly encouraging people to get vaccinated. the vaccine is safe. they need to speak to their physician. >> should rfk say that, though? should rfk say. >> i think everybody should be upset? >> i think everybody should. not explicitly calling him out there, but cassidy, of course, has a unique position. >> yeah. senator cassidy is running for reelection in a republican state. where a primary. he has a primary challenger. and that primary could be very ugly, especially if donald trump endorses his primary opponent. um, so, yeah, senator cassidy not only is in a unique position bec

i'm proud to lead the halt fentanyl act with senators heinrich and cassidy. as one democrat and one republican. our bill has the support of the leading law enforcement organizations. these 12 organizations have called on us here in the congress to, quote, advance this critical legislation without delay or modification, end quote. our bill also has the support of an organization called facing fentanyl. that's a coalition supported by over 200 family groups impacted by fentanyl. they, quote, stand in full support of the halt fentanyl act as it is currently written without amendments, end of quote. i've also received over 100 individual letters from parents who have lost their children to fentanyl poisoning. our bill also has the support of the medical community. the halt fentanyl act is truly bipartisan compromise, bringing together stakeholders and members from across the spectrum. during the last four years, senate democrats couldn't be bothered to bring this bill or any other permanent legislation to schedule fentanyl to the floor for a vote. and that was th

unanue spoke to senator cassidy within the last few days. let's watch. >> i will watch carefully for any effort to wrongfully sow public fear about vaccines. between confusing references of coincidence and anecdote. >> i'm very concerned about. >> the measles outbreak. >> and so. >> um, and. >> i'm strongly encouraging. >> people to get vaccinated. the vaccine is safe. they need to speak to their physician. >> should rfk say that, though? should rfk? >> i think everybody should. >> emphasize that. the. >> that seems to happen. >> a lot. >> especially these days. you know, he is in a difficult spot. he gave that vote that essentially if he voted no. rfk jr.. would not have been the hhs secretary. he is facing reelection. he is facing a republican primary. he's already been targeted by the right because of his vote to convict donald trump in the second impeachment trial. he's also a medical doctor. he knows full well how important vaccines are in his. and the way that rfk jr.. danced around that during the confirmation hearings, gave him a lot

chair cassidy: senator blunt rochester. sen.t with me. i found that most parents will do anything to keep their children safe and healthy. which is why we probably see so much on the best ways to protect our children. the fda has historically been seen as the authority on reliable information about public health issues related to medical products, food, tobacco, cosmetics, dietary supplements. however, people are getting their information in different ways now from different places. we are faced with a growing challenge of opinions replacing scientific consensus and the proliferation of misinformation and disinformation. parents need accurate, science-based information to help make informed decisions for their children. how would you use your position as fda commissioner to compete with uninformed voices and to share evidence-based, consensus driven information that is free from political influence? dr. makary: thank you. i enjoyed our time meeting together. i believe very much in empowering peopl with good information. thate is

it looks to me like the cartel bosses in mexico probably watching the old butch cassidy film el chapoain heists. stolen nikes, other products, using illegals here to actually pull off the holdups. pretty shocking, steve. these train robberies increased 40% with 65,000 cargo thefts exceeding $100 million. the solution, i think here install antitheft technology. you know, if that doesn't work, do what the train operator eh hairman did in the butch cassidy movie. get some armed guards you on horses or high lord volt more. that will force the thieves to move to bolivia, right? >> steve: got to wonder whether the cartels famous for human patricking a an bringing into the united states illegally. they charge by the head. maybe they are cracking a deal, okay. you go to the united states. we will get you in there free, but you got to knock over some not banks but trains because they are not guarded and they are easy picken. >> oh, yeah. i think there is a built-in financial insensitive associated with many of the illegals that come in to the united states, assisted by the cartels, they don't

cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. the clerk: mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. clerk: mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. curtis. mr. daines. ms. duckworth. mr. durbin. ms. ernst. mr. fetterman. mrs. fischer. mr. gallego. mrs. gillibrand. mr. graham. mr. grassley. mr. hagerty. ms. hassan. mr. hawley. mr. heinrich. mr. hickenlooper. ms. hirono. mr. hoeven. mr. husted. mrs. hyde-smith. mr. johnson. mr. justice. mr. kaine. mr. kelly. mr. kennedy. mr. kim. the clerk: mr. king. ms. klobuchar. mr. lankford. mr. lee. mr. lujan. ms. lummis. mr. markey. mr. marshall. mr. mcconnell. mr. mccormick. mr. merkley. mrs. moody. mr. moran. mr. moreno. mr. mullin. ms. murkowski. mr. murphy. mrs. murray. mr. ossoff. mr. padilla. mr. paul. mr. peters. mr. reed. mr. ricketts. mr. risch. ms. rosen. mr. rounds. mr. sanders. mr. schatz. mr. schiff. mr. schmitt. mr. schumer. is a mr. scott of florida. mr. scott of south carolina. mrs. shaheen. mr. sheehy. ms. slotkin. ms. smith. mr. sullivan. mr. thune. mr. tillis. mr. tuberville. mr. van hollen. mr. warner. mr. warnock. ms. warren. mr

and he wouldn't commit to not spending more money, which really disappointed cassidy, who said that is a lost opportunity to invest in things we really need answers to. but then, of course, there was also a lot of focus on these cuts we've seen across the federal government and health agencies in particular, and cuts to funding. he was grilled on that too. take a look. >> do you support the recent researcher. >> firings and grant freezes. >> that have been implemented by trump. >> and doge? >> senator. >> i was not involved in. those decisions. i might, if i'm confirmed as nih director, i fully commit to making sure that all the scientists at the nih and the scientists that the nih supports have the resources they need to meet the mission of the nih, which is to make america do research to make america healthy up to date, we've got fda nominee doctor marty makary, who is a surgeon from johns hopkins, another sort of covid contrarian voice. >> we're going to be listening closely to his answers about vaccines as well, particularly as we saw that a key vaccine advisory committee to the fd

you know, senator cassidy out of the boat, started asking. him about measles and the debunked link with the vaccine and autism and whether he would devote nih resources to studying that debunked link. take a listen to that exchange. >> i'm asking. >> the specific. >> question, will we once. >> more have to. go back. >> over this particular issue? >> because that has been exhaustively studied? >> yeah, i mean, i think as i said, senator, i don't think that there's a link between between, you know, the mmr vaccine and autism. i'm convinced based on that literature, i the only reason i'm not wholeheartedly saying yes to your question, which i every instinct of mine is to do that is that there are people who might disagree with me. i want to. >> make sure, but that's life. yeah. >> i mean, there's. >> people who disagree that the world is round. that's true. and i say that not to minimize these concerns, but but people people still think elvis is alive. >> now, cassidy, who is a doctor. emphasized that the more we quote, pretend this is an issue,

i imagine shanna is not only cassidy and property disposing this waste, but is also adding value against solutions like these customer reviews fish market waste, while also benefiting the farm on this scope of the fish market. and you know, is always bustling with customers, looking for a fresh catch from the nearby, see where that is fresh fish that is bound to be a lot of organic raised from all the cutting and cleaning in this market group. right to approach it. the money has hit upon a way to reuse the ways and then i mean, a lot of the item about what a lot of, you know, fish market. we collect approximately 4 ton sufficient based but week some of this waste is used as chicken feed. and the rest is used to make fish amino acid. we prepare fish amino acid by mixing deficient ways with january to ratio of $1.00 to $0.01. this mixer is rich in mike organisms and vitamins. it is also an excellent organic fertilizer for plants. entries are not allowed to send that to the bottom of the, allowing that i'd be a plate on the in the works here. you can see different stages of fermentation. th

. >> thank you, chairman cassidy and ranking member. it is an honor and a priviledge to be able to introduce and reckoned -- recommend to you dr. jayanta bhattacharya for the director of national institutes of health. and i had the opportunity to meet dr. bhattacharya during the covid pandemic. little bit about myself. i was governor of nebraska at the time, but in a prior life, i was a biology major undergrad. i worked in a biochemistry lab. i'm published. you can go out there and find out there. for a brief moment in time, i was actually involved in the research world at the nih gives out grants to help and support. and during the covid pandemic, we didn't know a lot. there was no playbook. and so, i was getting great advice from our folks at the university of nebraska medical center. but i also reached out to talk to talk with others like dr. bhattacharya about how we should handle this pandemic. and one of the things about dr. bhattacharya is he showed intellectual honesty and courage because he offered alternative suggestions about

cassidy, aye. the clerk: ms. cortez masto, no. the clerk: mr. tuberville, aye. the clerk: mr. boozman, aye. mr. murphy, no. the clerk: mr. rounds, aye. the clerk: mr. kim, no. the clerk: mr. budd, aye. mr. curtis, aye. mr. schiff, no. mr. merkley, no. the clerk: mr. thune, aye. the clerk: mr. lujan, no. ms. smith, no. ms. hahn, no. -- ms. hassan, no. the clerk: mrs. gillibrand, no. the clerk: mr. welch, no. mr. young, aye. the clerk: mr. husted, aye. the clerk: mr. cornyn, aye. the clerk: mr. risch, aye. the clerk: ms. warren, no. the clerk: mr. booker, no. mr. ernst, aye. the clerk: ms. klobuchar, no. mr. sheehy, aye. the clerk: mr. tillis, aye. ms. collins, aye. ms. collins, aye. the democrats for americans and troops and priorities that they did for the country of ukraine and they are working very hard too and that work so democrats should be applauding him. >> behind the scenes and the are treating the biden treated this respectfully. >> it's an interesting question, i don't know if anybody asked about that but there was a report from nbc news president biden president zel

[indistinct conversations] chair cassidy:

uh, i think senator cassidy finally got him to say that he could consider, you know, changing his mindabout the measles vaccine if there was, you know, sufficient safety data. but the truth of the matter is, this vaccine has been given to children since 1963. so there are 62 years of safety and efficacy data for this vaccine. and it is remarkably effective. one of the most effective vaccines we've ever seen. two two shots confer a lifetime immunity of 97%. and we have 60 plus years of safety data. he just refuses to. he just refuses to believe it. he founded this entity called the children's health defense, which has been one of the most prolific disseminators of misinformation about the measles vaccine. so he can't say that a parent should vaccinate their children because he doesn't believe it. but yet he's running the largest, uh, network of health agencies in the united states. i happen to think that if america's secretary of hhs during a measles outbreak won't explicitly tell parents of unvaccinated children to vaccinate their kids, then he should resign. it's not the right job for

i think he's reneging on some of the promises made to senator bill cassidy on vaccinations. but if you read the news top story every morning is that, you know, there's an outbreak of measles. west texas and 124 cases. the first young child just died measles and most most of these kids have come down with measles are those who are unvaccinated or they don't know. but one thing we do know is that a lot of mothers have been listening to robert kennedy jr on the stump saying vaccinations are bad and we need to ban them. well, they take that into it into their heart and say, well, i'm not going to get my child vaccinated for measles, mumps, chicken pox, small polio, many of those which were eradicated. we want these diseases to to come back. and so i think we need to educate the american public on what, you know, how why these drugs why these illnesses were eradicate it and why we need to keep them out our country. right. and i think that's incredibly important point and important distinction between that the education vaccines and the the getting at the correct information versu

you have former doctors like senator cassidy voting for rfk jr.t coy about their disdain for the rule of law. so i just want to put that out as pretext. but i, i went back and i watched your speech and a bunch of other addresses from the democratic convention, including adam kinzinger and all of the things that that you and republicans warned would come to pass, have come to pass. why do you think those warnings didn't sink in in the time frame of an election? >> you know, you got to remember that the things that i'm speaking out about now about, you know, the threat to our democracy, this is not a message to win elections on. it's something people need to know. they need to know that that's happening. but, you know, if you talk to 100 people, knock on 100 doors and have knocked on an awful lot of doors running for office, and you say to people, you know, democracy is at risk. nobody knows what that looks like. they've never experienced it before. and the reality is, what people need to hear about is what the effects of that are. the prices at the

senators john curtis and bill cassidy also expressing critical sentiments there.you expect them or other republican ukraine supporters to take any action? >> no. i've come to expect nothing from them because then i won't be disappointed like i constantly am year after year, for people to stand up and push back against donald trump and show some independence. all right. we just need independence. as a member of congress, it's your job, your constitutional obligation to be independent and to push back against the president, regardless of who that is. i did the same under the biden administration when i disagreed with president biden. i was vocal about that. that is our constitutional obligation. we need more of it. unfortunately, there's very, very little of that to go around right now. and the same people as your prior segment pointed out who are up in arms criticizing president biden about slow support for ukraine, not enough support for ukraine. those folks are largely silent now, and it's pretty shocking. >> i also want to ask you about the escalating trade war

. >> you know, what you're saying right now is echoed by senator bill cassidy, a republican who is acian pushing back, saying this topic of the measles vaccine, as you point out, has and autism has been exhaustively studied and pointing out that there are limited resources for a new agenda if the money is used for on further studying vaccines and autism, what kind of projects wouldn't get funded? do you think well, so the sort of things that we had just discussed there are there's probably 80% of autism is genetic, and it's not a single gene, as would be true, say, for cystic fibrosis or sickle cell disease. >> it's multigenic, but they're generally developmental genes. that's interesting. so it would be interesting to pursue that. the infant microbiome is interesting because that's something that arguably one could control medicines that one takes like valproic acid during pregnancy, has been associated with an increased risk of autism. but the vaccine story has been asked and answered, and it is hard to watch anti-vaccine activists like robert f. kennedy jr.. frankly, jay bhattacha

and bill cassidy of louisiana also attacking putin, saying that he's not just invading ukraine, he's killing anyone who disagrees with him. and so the president does have some work to do here tonight to come in and explain what the path forward is as it relates to ukraine and russia. will he welcome zelenskyy back in? will there be an opportunity to reach a negotiated settlement that could bring an end to this war? and i think you're right. watching the cues from some of these moderate republicans and these defense hawks, the folks who have been behind ukraine from the very beginning have pushed their party. >> to continue. >> funding ukraine and funding their war effort. how they respond to what the president has to say will be very instructive as to how this debate ends up going forward. but keep in mind, katie, that this vast majority of republicans still support donald trump, no matter what he does. so that may not matter in terms of the grand scheme of how this goes, at least from congress's perspective. >> ryan, donald trump froze all aid to ukraine. can he do that? i mean, thi

and senator cassidy tried to get him to assure him that he wouldn't re-investigate this thoroughly debunked link. and here we are. >> all right, meg tirrell, thank you so much for that update. also, in our health lead. protesters convened in washington, dc today to voice their anger and their fears about trump administration cutbacks to scientific research, including my next guest. the first pediatric leukemia patient to undergo a now vital experimental treatment, a treatment that would not have been possible without the very facilities now under threat of being eliminated. emily whitehead is here, along with her father, tom. so, emily, to get everybody up to speed here you are. only your you're almost 20. you were just five when you were first diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. and even after you were in remission, it came back a few years later. what do you remember most from that? that time of your life? >> yeah. so at this point, i don't remember too much. now that i'm getting older, i really only remember the good memories that i had, like in the hospital playroom. the child

cassidy you said transportation workers are the backbone of our infrastructure system and i certainly agree with that. we need to mb sure they can perform their duties in a knowledgeable way and safety way. understand that participated in nine national safety board investigations last year. with all the emphasis on safety why are conductors getting hurt. is there anything we can do about it that might be helpful? >> thank you for the question. that is a loaded question. why are our members still getting hurt on the job is a multitude of reasoning. i would start with training. when i was hired on the railroad, i started as a conductor and promoted to locomotive engineer. our training i had to pay 6,000 to hire on with the railroad and today you get a bonus for taking the job. the emphasis was on training and go through a regimented school of six weeks and six months of training. the way the training programs work in the regulatory world is that the railroads are required to develop programs and submit those programs to f.r.a. but there is so much freedom, the way they are approved they

year's parade grand marshal mark gorman and i want to honor the late honorary grand marshals gerald cassidyet marie gaffney and sister either hurley whose legacies continue to inspire us all. i want to thank i want to thank our consul general from ireland, michael smith for his continued partnership and the services your consulate provides to many residents of san francisco. and as we both said, this might not be irish weather that we have today but we had a great time out on that balcony raising that flag. so it's an honor to partner with you as we raise the irish flag today we not only celebrate the past but we also look forward to the future and ireland and san francisco that continue to thrive and grow. i am filled filled with hope for san francisco's future. thanks to the remarkable community and civic leaders gathered here today whose dedication and hard work are shaping a brighter tomorrow for our city. i want to thank you all for being here. let's make this irish heritage and friendship month month a reminder of the shared values that unite us all. at this time i'd like to invite up

senator cassidy you're next. kirk's a really enjoy the conversation, it was really good.ant to follow-up on this. president trump said he wants a balanced budget. treasury secretary passant has said he wants the jet to debt to gdp ratio. i applaud that. we not home mortgages, credit card debt, car financing is all related to a mortgage rate and underlined treasury rate and increased debt can push that up. if we allow the treasury rate to rise mortgage and car and credit card ends unit loan debt rise that is a backdoor tax on middle america. on the president spoke the other night of restoring the american dream i just really saw that. that leads me to the question wf a 25 year high. you've written a lot on this. what are the implications if the debt continues to rise up on the mortgage student loan and credit card rates. cooks i enjoyed our discussion earlier this week. if you look at the impacts of the affordability crisis on the last four years understates the impact. if you are actually included the numbers are about twice as bad as the reported statistics. that's exact

senator cassidy, you are next. >> thank you for being here. i enjoyed our conversation, really good. president trump has said he wants a balanced budget. treasury secretary bessent has said he wants the debt to gdp ratio of 3%. i applied that. as we know, home mortgages, student loan debt, credit card debt are related to the underlying mortgage rate and underlying treasury rate and increased debt can push that up. if we allow that treasury rate to rise in mortgage and car and credit card and student loan debt rates rise, that is a backdoor tax on middle america. my people would be paying more in home ownership is a little out. when the president spoke the other night on restoring the american dream, i saw that. that leads me to the question. knowing that mortgage trades recently had a 25-year high, and knowing our fiscal trajectory because you have written a lot on this, what are the implications if our debt continues to rise up on those mortgage, cars, student loan rates? mr. faulkender: thank you. i enjoyed our thorough discussion earlier th

cassidy. ms. collins. mr. coons. mr. cornyn. ms. cortez masto. mr. cotton. mr. cramer. mr. crapo. mr. cruz. mr. curtis. what we are seeing real-time to default on the veterans of america. it's an assault that is part of a campaign by elon musk who has been empowered by president trump totally to eliminate waste in our federal government. instead of eliminating waste elon musk is laying waste to the department of veterans affairs and it is unfolding in real time and with the real-life impact on our veterans. not only is he firing veterans at the va, many of the 2400 already terminated our veterans one third of them but across agencies in the united states government where 30,000 members of the federal workforce have been indiscriminately terminated , 30% of them are veterans as well turned almost 50% of everybody in the department of defense who has been fired, they are veterans and they may be probationary employees, promoted to a position where they are in that status because they done such a great job. they are being fired. younger members of the federal workforce who are there