Senator Bill Cassidy will chair Senate HELP Committee

Dr. Bill Cassidy will now officially lead the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee next year as the Republicans take control of the upper chamber following the election, the Louisiana Republican announced Thursday.

The widely expected promotion for the committee’s current ranking member was largely a formality and comes after the senior Republican on the panel, Kentucky senator Rand Paul, decided to chair the Homeland Security Committee. Cassidy took over as the ranking Republican on the HELP committee in 2023.

Higher education has received little attention from current chair Senator Bernie Sanders, a Vermont Independent, in the past two years. But Cassidy’s record shows legislation concerning colleges and universities could likely be a priority for him.

The senator has questioned the use of federal funding for campus diversity, equity and inclusion programs; been sharply critical of how colleges responded to protests over the Israel-Hamas war; and blasted President Biden’s handling of the new Free Application for Federal Student Aid as well as his attempts at student loan forgiveness. 

Most notably, Cassidy is a lead sponsor of the College Transparency Act—legislation that would produce new data on program-level college student outcomes like graduate earnings and loan repayment.

“It is an honor to lead my fellow Republicans as chair of the HELP Committee,” Cassidy said in a news release. “I am excited to work closely with President Trump and my Republican colleagues to implement a Pro-America agenda and deliver real solutions for Louisiana and American families.” 

Cassidy was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Trump of incitement of insurrection in his second impeachment trial.

Cassidy has also outlined a plan to modernize the National Institutes of Health, which sends hundreds of millions in research funding to colleges and universities.

Having formerly worked as a gastroenterologist before entering the political arena, Cassidy will be the first medical doctor to serve as HELP chair since 1933, when the committee was named Education and Labor.