Who Will Replace Cassidy on the Senate’s Health Committee?

Two physician senators — Sen. Rand Paul, MD, (R-Ky.) and Sen. Roger Marshall, MD, (R-Kan.) — are among the leading contenders to take over Sen. Bill Cassidy, MD, (R-La.)’s role as chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) committee after his primary loss.

Paul is the next Republican in line for the position, though it’s worth watching to see if he instead opts to stay on in his role as chair of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs committee, as reported by Axios.

He has pushed back on government-mandated vaccines — even amid measles outbreaks in the U.S. — suggesting they infringe on personal rights. He also continues to be vocal about determining the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, questioning whether alleged gain-of-function research supported by the NIH may have contributed to it. Last year, he took aim at former President Joe Biden’s pardon of Anthony Fauci, MD, alleging Fauci lied to Congress that the NIH had never funded gain-of-function research in Wuhan, China.

Additionally, he has said he’s against abortion and that having states decide abortion laws is a good thing.

But Politico has reported that Marshall, a big fan of Kennedy, is angling to become chair of the HELP committee.

Marshall founded a Make America Healthy Again caucus to promote Kennedy’s plans for combatting chronic diseases and has criticized vaccine mandates as well, Politico noted.

A practicing ob/gyn before entering the political fray, Marshall endorsed Kennedy’s view that the birth dose of the hepatitis B vaccine has been given to babies who don’t need it because their mothers don’t have the disease.

Marshall has alleged that the COVID pandemic was started in a laboratory in Wuhan, and pointed to a need for vaccine transparency, questioning how many people died with COVID rather than from COVID and whether, in addition to the COVID vaccine saving lives, it also cost some.

He is also a staunch opponent of abortion, stating in a HELP committee meeting in 2022 that “Overturning Roe v. Wade was a historic occasion that signaled a new beginning for millions of unborn babies.”

Among other potential candidates, Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) follows Paul in terms of seniority for the post as HELP committee chair. However, she already chairs the Senate Appropriations committee and faces her own tough re-election in the midterms.

Another senior member of the HELP committee — and a moderate Republican like Collins — is Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), though she chairs the Department of the Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations committee as well as the Senate Indian Affairs committee.

It has also been reported that Murkowski wants to succeed retiring Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) at the helm of the powerful Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.

Collins and Murkowski have pushed back on health-related issues during the current administration, departing from the Republican majority. They were both hesitant about President Donald Trump’s previous pick for surgeon general Casey Means, MD. Murkowski noted her hesitancy was due to Means not ruling out a link between vaccines and autism and supporting parents’ right to choose what vaccines they give their children.

They were also two of only three Republicans to push back on a recent policy change at HHS that critics have said reduces transparency on grant making and contracts; they are also on record as supporting abortion rights.

Additional members of the HELP committee are listed here.