William Morgan Cassidy was born on September 28,1957 and is an American physician and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Louisiana, a seat he has held since 2015.
34 Facts About Bill Cassidy
2.
In 2014, Bill Cassidy defeated Democratic incumbent Mary Landrieu to represent Louisiana in the US Senate, becoming the first Republican to hold the seat since the end of Reconstruction.
3.
Bill Cassidy was one of seven Republican senators to vote to convict Donald Trump of incitement of insurrection in his second impeachment trial.
4.
William Morgan Cassidy was born in Highland Park, Illinois, one of four sons of Elizabeth and James F Cassidy, and is of Irish and Welsh descent.
5.
Bill Cassidy moved to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, as an infant, and received a Bachelor of Science from Louisiana State University in 1979 and a Doctor of Medicine from LSU School of Medicine in 1983.
6.
In 1998, Bill Cassidy helped found the Greater Baton Rouge Community Clinic to provide uninsured residents of the greater Baton Rouge area with access to free health care.
7.
Bill Cassidy has been involved in setting up the nonprofit Health Centers in Schools, which vaccinates children in the East Baton Rouge Parish School System against hepatitis B and flu.
8.
Bill Cassidy was first elected to the Louisiana State Senate in 2006 as a Republican.
9.
Bill Cassidy had previously been a Democrat, supporting Michael Dukakis for president in 1988, donating to Senator Paul Tsongas's 1992 presidential campaign, and to Louisiana Democrats Governor Kathleen Blanco in 2003 and 2004 and Senator Mary Landrieu in 2002.
10.
On December 9,2006, Bill Cassidy won a special election for the District 16 seat in the Louisiana Senate.
11.
Bill Cassidy likely owed his victory to the independent candidacy of state representative Michael L Jackson.
12.
In May 2009, Bill Cassidy partnered with California Representative Jackie Speier to introduce legislation that would amend the House of Representatives rules to require that members of Congress list their earmark requests on their Congressional websites.
13.
Bill Cassidy worked to ensure that money from the Gulf Coast Restoration Trust Fund which was established in the wake of the BP oil spill, is spent on coastal restoration efforts.
14.
In December 2010, Cassidy voted to extend the tax cuts enacted during the administration of President George W Bush.
15.
Bill Cassidy voted for the Constitutional Balanced Budget Amendment of 2011.
16.
In 2013, due to the American Medical Association's decision to officially recognize obesity as a disease, Senators and Representatives, including Bill Cassidy, helped introduce legislation to lower health care costs and prevent chronic diseases by addressing America's growing obesity crisis.
17.
Bill Cassidy said the Treat and Reduce Obesity Act could help empower physicians to use all methods and means to fight the condition.
18.
In June 2013, Cassidy supported a House-passed bill that federally banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy.
19.
Also in 2013, Cassidy circulated a draft letter opposing an immigration reform bill, asking for signatures.
20.
In 2014 Bill Cassidy co-sponsored an amendment to the Homeowner Flood Insurance Affordability Act in 2014 to limit annual premium increases for flood insurance, reinstate the flood insurance program's grandfathering provision, and eliminate a provision that required an increase to actuarial levels when a home is sold.
21.
Bill Cassidy was a vocal opponent of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, arguing that it would fail to lower costs and give too much decision-making authority to the federal government.
22.
Bill Cassidy ran for the US Senate in the 2014 election, in which he was endorsed by Republican Senator David Vitter.
23.
Bill Cassidy was reelected in 2020, and won every parish but one.
24.
Bill Cassidy responded to Kimmel, saying that Kimmel "doesn't understand" the legislation.
25.
Bill Cassidy was participating in the certification of the 2021 United States Electoral College vote count when Trump supporters stormed the United States Capitol.
26.
On February 9,2021, Bill Cassidy voted that Trump's impeachment trial was unconstitutional.
27.
Bill Cassidy was praised by several Democrats, including his predecessor Mary Landrieu, whom Bill Cassidy defeated in 2014.
28.
In July 2019, Cassidy was one of eight senators to introduce the Agricultural Trucking Relief Act, a bill that would alter the definition of an agricultural commodity to include both horticultural and aquacultural products and promote greater consistency in regulation by federal and state agencies as part of an attempt to ease regulatory burdens on trucking and the agri-community.
29.
In January 2019, Cassidy was one of 31 Republican senators to cosponsor the Constitutional Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act, a bill introduced by John Cornyn and Ted Cruz that would allow people with concealed-carry privileges in their home state to exercise this right in any other state with concealed-carry laws while concurrently abiding by that state's laws.
30.
In May 2022, after the Robb Elementary School shooting, Bill Cassidy reaffirmed his opposition to banning any kind of guns, including assault rifles such as the AR-15.
31.
Bill Cassidy later became one of ten Republican senators to support a bipartisan agreement on gun control, which included a red flag provision, a support for state crisis intervention orders, funding for school safety resources, stronger background checks for buyers under the age of 21, and penalties for straw purchases.
32.
Bill Cassidy opposes abortion after 20 weeks and any federal funding for abortion.
33.
Bill Cassidy's wife, Laura, is a physician; they met during their respective residencies in Los Angeles and married on September 29,1989.
34.
Bill Cassidy worked as a gastroenterologist at the facility until it closed in 2013.