Bill Cassidy, M.D., Senator for Louisiana (R-LA)
with the “Charlie Devlin Award for Excellence” 

 

Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D., (R-LA) currently serves as Senator of Louisiana, a position he has held since 2015. Prior to becoming Senator, Cassidy served in the House of Representatives from 2009 to 2015, and before that, in the Louisiana State Senate from 2006 to 2009. Senator Cassidy is a physician with a bachelors from Louisiana State University (LSU) in 1979 and a Doctor of Medicine from LSU School of Medicine in 1983.

 

With a background as a physician, Senator Cassidy has been a leading voice in Congress on mental health and substance use disorder (SUD) policy. Specifically, in 2023, Senator Cassidy introduced the SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act (S.3393), to reauthorize key prevention, treatment, and recovery programs authorized under the original SUPPORT Act in 2018, and later reintroduced an updated version of the bill in 2025 after provisions had lapsed. Senator Cassidy also co-sponsored the Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act (CARA) 2.0 of 2018 (S.2456), many provisions of which were included in the House-passed SUPPORT for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act of 2025 (H.R.2483). In 2024, Senator Cassidy also co-sponsored the STRONGER Act (S.3740), legislation to modernize the Residential Substance Abuse Treatment (RSAT) program for individuals in State prisons and jails to expand access to treatment and continuity of care upon release.

 

In addition, Senator Cassidy has been an advocate for expanding access to medication-assisted treatment (MAT), urging the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to approve State waiver applications that would allow pre-release MAT for incarcerated individuals. Over the course of his tenure, he has also sponsored legislation to strengthen synthetic drug monitoring, expand SUD risk screenings for older adults, and support local recovery centers.

 

Senator Cassidy currently serves as Chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, the committee in the Senate with jurisdiction over programs under the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). In addition, Senator Cassidy also serves on the Senate Finance Committee, which oversees Medicaid and Medicare, the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources, and the Senate Committee on Veterans Affairs.