Transcript: Sen. Bill Cassidy on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Nov. 15, 2026

November 15, 2026 / 12:16 PM EST / CBS News Add CBS News on Google The following is the transcript of the interview with Sen. Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Nov. 15, 2026.MARGARET BRENNAN: We go now to the chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions, Republican Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana. Good morning to you, Doctor.SEN. BILL CASSIDY: Good morning.MARGARET BRENNAN: You may have seen these headlines that it is now official that the U.S. has lost its status as a country where measles is eliminated, our partners at KFF report. And as you know, babies don't get their measles shot until they're around a year old, and so that means this regular transmission of measles throughout the country can leave parents with- with risks of exposing their kids and- and little that they can do to protect them in these cold weather months. Do you think that the current health officials are doing enough to educate the public about the risk of transmission?SEN. CASSIDY: First, let me emphasize what you just said. Speaking as a physician, you may decide not to be vaccinated because it's your free will, but the child who's too young to be vaccinated is vulnerable if you come into that child's presence, and we're seeing children die from measles who are too young to be vaccinated. By the way, it's also true for the immunocompromised, which might be a woman who is pregnant and her immunity falls. It might be- it might be someone on cancer chemotherapy. So if you've not been vaccinated, you could be the person that brings death to another. That's something to remember. Your specific question- question, are public health officials doing enough? I think if I were president, I'd be saying, stand on the mountaintop, give that message, that you may decide that this is just your body, do what you want, but you can bring measles or some other disease into the- into the health space of a child who's not- who's not old enough to be vaccinated. I think that should be the message going out. It should be pounded, pounded, pounded.MARGARET BRENNAN: You have oversight of these health institutions. In- in the next few weeks, do you plan action? I mean, why aren't we hearing from the CDC director?SEN. CASSIDY: So I'm in regular contact with the CDC director. For example, there was a broken link where you fill in your zip code and it tells you where to get the flu shot. And I- somebody informed me it was broken. I texted her. She responded quickly and saying that she didn't know about it, she would look into it. And then she texted back to say it's been broken for a year, and so she's working to fix it. There's a lot of things to fix, and Dr. Schwartz is, as best I can tell, doing her best. But there will be more comments about this. It is- we've got four to six weeks left. No, we got about four weeks left, and so there's a limited time-- MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.SEN. CASSIDY: --to have a public hearing, but there's contact going on in the background.MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, you have shared with us previously that when you voted to confirm Secretary Kennedy, you believed that he would have more oversight in that Senate confirmed position. You also said that he's broken promises to you. This past week, Secretary Kennedy said while Senate Republicans used to threaten not to confirm his appointees, now that Democrats will be in the majority, his gloves will be off. Take a listen.[START SOUND ON TAPE] HHS SECRETARY ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR.: The Senate no longer has any leverage over me, and you know- and that's a big deal. And then we have Stephen Miller in, who's a- a friend of our movement. And I don't think anything is going to get in our way now.[END SOUND ON TAPE]MARGARET BRENNAN: The Senate has no leverage over me. What do you make of that?SEN. CASSIDY: Well, first, he's 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. 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, and the logic that because Republicans have been there, but now Democrats are in charge, will make it easier for him? There is no logic. This is about covering a series of failures. And by the way, I should also say that healthcare expenses are sky-high, going higher. Small businesses dropping coverage, employees unable to afford their deductible. This has been a failure. If I were president, I would choose someone else because there needs to be accountability for higher healthcare costs, more measles deaths, losing elimination status, and no progress on processed foods.MARGARET BRENNAN: So, a number of Democrats, including Senator Alsobrooks and Warnock, have said RFK must resign or be fired. One of the incoming senators, Dr. Annie Andrews from South Carolina, she actually ran on a platform of impeaching RFK. When I've asked you in the past about that possibility, you told me you didn't see an impeachable offense. Is that still the case?SEN. CASSIDY: Well, it's up to the president. This is ultimately the president's legacy. The impeachment. As regards impeachment, you know, you can impeach, I guess, over a ham sandwich, so they'll have to decide what to do on that. But I do think it's more importantly the president's decision. The president may want a legacy of higher health care costs, losing measles elimination status, and no progress on addressing ultra-processed foods and other things. If so, that'll taint the president's legacy. If the president wants actually something positive, he should change. And that's just that's just speaking politically. The American voters signaled at the midterm they don't like status quo, particularly in healthcare, and I think it's time for something different.MARGARET BRENNAN: So Republicans are racing to confirm nominees before Democrats take office in January, and this Wednesday is the vote on the nomination of Dr. Heidi Overton, the president's nominee to become the FDA commissioner. You've previously said her role in crafting the Trump administration's childhood vaccine policies was almost disqualifying. Senator Collins has raised concern about the FDA's authorization of flavored vapes and nicotine. Senator Murkowski has worried about political pressure on scientific review and the FDA-approved abortion drug mifepristone. Given all this, do you still expect that Dr. Overton will be approved by your committee? SEN. CASSIDY: I don't know that. 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. But I spoke to four or five of my down dais Republican members, as well as continuing to discuss things with my advisors. So I can't tell you that answer yet.MARGARET BRENNAN: So you, you may leave without a Senate confirmed FDA commissioner in place. Does that worry you?SEN. CASSIDY: Yeah, and that's part of it, Margaret. It's always easy to say, "my gosh, wouldn't we want to have perfection?" But we're not going to have perfection. We just know that. So then the question is, do we want a series of short-term administrators who probably will have more influence from the secretary, as opposed to someone who may be not- you know the perfect candidate in somebody's mind, but at least would be a permanent one and have the ability to establish some independence. And that's part of the thought process there. That weighs on one side, and of course other things weigh on the other. And- and I've heard from a lot of people who are significant, who think deeply about the FDA, who have said it's better to have a steady hand. I've heard from others that have a different opinion. So it continues to go back and forth, and we'll know Wednesday.MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, we'll see how you vote on Wednesday. As you said, you got a limited number of days, 20 exact before the end of the year. 20 working days. You got a lot of business. There's defense funding. There is government funding, and looks like possibly the risk of a government shutdown. You said President Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have made commitments to you to address Social Security. Can you really get all that kind of serious work done in 20 working days?SEN. CASSIDY: So I had a commitment from both Thune and from Mike Crapo to have a hearing and a markup on a Social Security bill. It could be mine, could be someone else's, and the president actually has- has given me personal commitment that he would support it, and his administration has been very helpful. I have Democrats who are also supportive. It's a bipartisan bill. The ranking member on the Senate Finance Committee, Ron Wyden, has decided he does not want to be constructive, and I said, Senator Wyden, it doesn't have to be my bill. It can be any bill. But no, he doesn't want to be constructive, and so we won't probably have that hearing unless he changes his mind, which is unfortunate, because we have the ability to have 60 votes in the Senate, to have the House, and have a president who will sign it, and yet he doesn't want to be constructive, and since- since it's so- Social Security is like a child, and you have to you have to care for that child the minute it starts to look ill, and right now Social Security has been looking ill for some time. We as a country, as a government, must care for it, and I feel like that care is being neglected. Incredibly frustrating, but that's where we are.MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, yeah, it'll be insolvent in six years. Medicare, pretty much as well, and yet you don't--SEN. CASSIDY: Which is why we should act now. By- by the way, Senator Wyden doesn't like my plan, so he says, because we borrow 1.5 trillion dollars, we put it in an investment fund separate from Social Security trust fund, put it into the broader economy, and allow it to grow over six decades. At which point it pays for up to 70 percent of what we need to cover the debt for Social Security. He doesn't want to put tax dollars in, in the stock market. He's done that before. He has voted for that exact same policy almost for the federal railroad retirement system under George W. Bush, and that's done fantastic. It works. We know it does. So I think it's a fig leaf. By the way, I also said let's bring up Bernie Sanders' plan. We can do that. But there's just a refusal to take part of it, and I'm so frustrated. This is so important to our country. Congress is there to take tough choices, and now we're- now those tough choices are being ducked. MARGARET BRENNAN: Senator. Thank you for your time this morning. We'll continue to cover that, and we'll be back in a moment.