Zachary Fitzgerald
Stronger Republican control over the U.S. Senate should help President Donald Trump’s appointees be more easily approved.
But Democrats’ takeover of the House may divert attention away from important issues, U.S. Sen Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, said Wednesday.
Cassidy was the speaker during a Joint Chamber Luncheon at The Cypress Columns in Gray. The luncheon was hosted by the Houma-Terrebonne, Lafourche, St. Mary and Thibodaux chambers of commerce.
In the U.S. midterm elections Tuesday, Republicans retained control of the U.S. Senate.
Democrats were able to seize control of the House.
A major focus for Republicans has been to get President Donald Trump’s appointees approved. “Democrats have politicized” that effort, Cassidy said. The U.S. Senate hearings to confirm Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh were the best example of that struggle, he said.
“With a few more Republican senators, we’ll be able to get those appointees through,” Cassidy said. “They’re the ones that are trying to push the deregulations and a different perspective on how we grow our economy.”
But because Democrats took back the House, Cassidy fears that “they’ll spend more time investigating President Trump than they will working on issues that are important to the nation.”
What’s best for the country is to have a bipartisan effort working to the good of people in the United States, Cassidy said.
“But, again I’m fearful they’ll just devolve into impeaching Kavanaugh, impeaching President Trump, going after tax records just to make a point. So we’ll see,” Cassidy said.
U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters, D-California, is scheduled to become the chair of the House Finance Committee, he said. Cassidy hopes that if Congress can get the flood insurance bill reauthorized this year, he can work with Waters on reauthorization of the bill in 2019.
“We’ve got a very good bill that’s bipartisan, but we’ve just been unable to get it all the way through,” Cassidy said. “My hope is that if she’s the chair that we will be able to.”
Cassidy discussed his vision for how the country should move forward and unite after the midterm elections.
Reforming the National Flood Insurance Program “is not a Democrat or a Republican issue” but “an American issue,” he said. Cassidy co-authored a flood insurance bill with Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-New York.
Drug costs are another issue important to Cassidy as a medical doctor. Cassidy talked with independent pharmacists a few years ago saying that they should be able to tell patients if it’s cheaper to pay cash for a medication than to go through their health insurance company.
However, a gag clause prohibited pharmacists from telling patients that paying cash is cheaper for certain medications, Cassidy said.
Recently, Trump signed a law outlawing those gag clauses.
“That’s the way democracy is supposed to work,” Cassidy said.
Cassidy has been working to increase “price transparency” in health care that lets patients know how to make the best decisions for their health and pocketbook.
“You should know the price before you get the procedure as opposed to finding out six months later,” he said.
Congress is continuing to work on addressing the nation’s opioid epidemic, providing law enforcement officials more tools and increasing treatment options for opioid addicts, Cassidy said.
Infrastructure is also a priority for Cassidy, and some major infrastructure projects have already been done in recent years.
“There has been record funding for the Army Corps of Engineers, and this area has benefited in particular,” he said.