Transcript: Sen. Bill Cassidy on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan," Sept. 20, 2026
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 Sept. 20, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: We're joined now by Republican Senator Bill Cassidy. He is the chairman of the Health Committee, and he joins us from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Good morning to you, Doctor. A lot to get to. I want to start first on something that grabbed our attention. President Trump claimed Friday that his son has now repaid a Russian billionaire named Umar Kremlev, after it was reported that the Kremlin-linked billionaire paid for parts of his son's wedding celebrations in the Bahamas. Don Jr. originally called it a gift, but your Republican colleague from Utah, Senator Curtis, called it corruption. Your colleague from North Carolina, Thom Tillis, said it was "beyond bad." Do you think it's corruption, and does repaying the funds make a difference?
SEN. BILL CASSIDY: Repaying the funds does make a difference. Anytime someone gives a $250,000 gift and they have strong ties to the Kremlin, that's- that's wrong. You- with that proximity to power, being the president's son, you've got to give faith to the American people that Washington is not a swamp, and even though in your mind it might be a gift, the appearance of it is really bad, and so I'm glad it's been repaid. Would be nice to have that kind of verified and no, it shouldn't have been done in the first place.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, it was the free press that brought it forward in the first place- it was a publication called ProPublica. Important reporting there. Let me ask you about an issue that I know is on your radar, and that is the debt we are in. As a country, we are 40 trillion in debt. President Trump said he's going to pay out $5,000 to Americans if Republicans win in these upcoming midterm elections. I know the Treasury Secretary says he'll avoid going to Congress for that money, even if it's not fiscal spending. Is- isn't it inflationary, and is it actually a good idea?
SEN. CASSIDY: It's absolutely inflationary. If Joe Biden had proposed that, conservatives would have been all against it, and I say that because if the government borrows money, it's going to drive up how much somebody pays for their mortgage, for their car note, perhaps for their credit card. And so, for that family struggling to buy their first home or to refinance a home or to buy a car, it becomes that much more out of reach to you. We need to actually pay attention to our national debt, and I can tell you that if we can control our debt, that will be a stimulus to somebody. That will help them be able to afford life better. That's a better way to go.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Anything like that going to happen post-midterms to control the debt?
SEN. CASSIDY: Well, so as you know, I've been pushing to address Social Security, and the nice thing about addressing Social Security, which I would still love to do this Congress, is that- is that not only do you ensure the benefit that has been promised to the American people, but you also take care of 20% of our nation's indebtedness, and so that's why I've been so pushing for this. If we wait six years until--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay.
SEN. CASSIDY: --the trust fund goes insolvent, my gosh--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.
SEN. CASSIDY: --that's too late. We need to do it now.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Absolutely. Let's talk more about it in a minute. I'm going to take this commercial break, Senator. And we'll have much more with Dr. Bill Cassidy. Stay with us.
[ANNOUNCEMENTS]
MARGARET BRENNAN: Welcome back to Face the Nation. We return now to our conversation with Louisiana Republican Senator and Dr. Bill Cassidy. Senator, you- as we mentioned, run the Health Committee. President Trump spoke at length on Friday again about vaccines, and he said he's going to demand that drug companies split up kids' vaccines into five doses. He said it will lead, quote, "to a massive reduction in autism." Take a listen.
[START SOUND ON TAPE]
DONALD TRUMP: So you have shot one, shot two, shot three, shot four, shot five. So instead of having a massive dose of 82 or 88 different vaccines pumped into your arm, we'll take out certain vaccines that people are a little worried about.
[END SOUND ON TAPE]
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you know what vaccines he means, or whether vaccine makers are actually going to do what he just promised?
SEN. CASSIDY: I don't know that. There needs to be, though, radical honesty. Have the president come forward- what is he basing this on? Who's giving him advice? And I approach this as a physician. I spoke to a pediatrician the other night who says that patients are so worried. Patients' mothers are so worried. And so we need to address that worry where it is, not by coming up with stuff which may have no- I have no clue where it's coming from, but kind of in a radically honest way, explain what you think. If you want to be radically honest, the vaccines are safe. They've been proven to be safe, and the current regimen has been timed to be most convenient to the parent. At any point, the parent can say, "I want something different," but I would just ask the president to be aware that people are listening to him. If he discourages immunization, there'll be fewer people immunized, and if we're speaking of measles, there'll be more people sick in the hospital or even die.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, and just on the math of it all, he's talking about more shots, adding shots rather than reducing them, but your committee holds a hearing this coming week on the nominee to be the next FDA commissioner, Dr. Heidi Overton. She was standing beside President Trump a few weeks ago when he falsely called the MMR vaccine lethal. You said it was a "nonsensical executive order" that he was signing to change the childhood vaccine schedule. She'd be involved with the vaccine makers here. You said her presence and involvement was "almost disqualifying." Why not automatically? What do you need to hear from her to be persuaded?
SEN. CASSIDY: I need to hear that she understands that calling the measles vaccine lethal is absurd, and we need radical honesty. Tell us, Mr. President, why do you think this vaccine is lethal? Have you ever seen a case of lethality? And what about the people who are not vaccinated, who are getting sick and even dying? By the way, a 40-year-old and an 18-year-old most recently, and what do we say to those families in the neonatal intensive care unit at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, where a child- an older child with active measles, walked through, exposing those children in that ICU? We should have a common voice of radical honesty of- of trying to help the American people understand what is safe. And if the president calls it lethal, then where are you getting your information, Mr. President? And if- if you really don't have it, why are you willing to risk the lives of fellow Americans?
MARGARET BRENNAN: And on this program, Dr. Oz did admit that it was not lethal when we pressed him, but- but no one did on camera.
SEN. CASSIDY: And Margaret--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.
SEN. CASSIDY: --and Margaret, can I also point out--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.
SEN. CASSIDY: --that the president's nominee for surgeon general, Dr. Saphier--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
SEN. CASSIDY: --just said in committee hearing last week that it's not lethal, it is safe, and people should be vaccinated.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Did she earn your vote? And if so, when will we see her confirmed as surgeon general?
SEN. CASSIDY: So she did earn my vote, and she'll be part of, I'm sure, the en bloc- you know, there's a whole group of people that'll be all approved at the same time. But when somebody is willing to be honest to the American people and say that vaccines are safe, you should be taking it, and the consequence of not can even include death- well, what else can you ask for when it comes to vaccines?
MARGARET BRENNAN: You mentioned a moment ago the concern that the Pennsylvania Department of Health has said about the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and exposure of babies, infants in NICU. A baby's not immunized until around 12 months of age, so these infants are at risk here. And Dr. Paul Offit, who heads the Vaccine Education Center, said the United States is severely underestimating the epidemic of measles right now. So we have had for about two-and-a-half weeks now a new CDC director, Dr. Erica Schwartz. In her very first interview, she said the CDC is working on a definition of what a measles-related death is. Is that really what the CDC should be focused on- the- the nuance around the language?
SEN. CASSIDY: So Dr. Schwartz and I have communicated on multiple occasions, and- and there is a difference in medicine between "caused by" and "associated with." Of the four deaths in Pennsylvania, one was associated with measles, but the coroner did not say that measles caused the death. The other three- other three, a coroner- by the way, all Republicans have said that the deaths were caused by measles. Now, there's apparently a lag time between the records being sent, received by CDC from- from Pennsylvania, and being posted. But the coroner in Pennsylvania has three- three different cases- have said that these deaths were caused by measles. And I'll repeat, Margaret, one was 40 and one was 18 years old. Having measles is not a kind of victimless kind of experience. It's a little bit like drunk driving. You- you can drive drunk. You know, you can drink and get drunk, but if you drive, you're going to hurt other people. You can get measles, but when you start spreading it to other people, a 40-year-old dies, an 18-year-old dies. Children in a neonatal intensive care unit are at risk. People have got to realize, and the government has to realize it. The president should be saying, "Be vaccinated. It is safe and effective."
MARGARET BRENNAN: Do you think this is going to hurt your party in the midterms?
SEN. CASSIDY: If you look at polling, women, who make most of the health decisions for a family, overwhelmingly support childhood immunization, and so if- if the American people feel as if there is a message coming out which is not good for the health of the United States and which is confusing people, I can tell you it probably does hurt.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Dr. Cassidy, Senator, thank you for your time today. We'll leave it there. We'll be right back.
