By: Richard Rainey
Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., said he would not step aside during the confirmation hearings for Betsy DeVos, President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for education secretary. That’s despite Cassidy receiving $70,200 in campaign contributions from DeVos and her relatives in 2014.
“When people donate to my campaign they sign up for my agenda, I don’t sign up for theirs,” he said Friday (Jan. 6).
Cassidy said DeVos’ financial support of his successful run against Sen. Mary Landrieu, D-La., would not compromise his role on the Senate Committee for Health Education Labor and Pensions, which will hold initial hearings on DeVos’ nomination Wednesday (Jan. 11).
He is one of five senators on the HELP committee who collectively received more than $250,000 in donations from DeVos or her family members, according to an analysis of campaign contributions by The Washington Post. The others are Republicans Richard Burr of North Carolina, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, Tim Scott of South Carolina and Todd Young of Indiana.
Two groups pushing for campaign finance reform, Every Voice and End Citizens United, have called for those five senators to recuse themselves from DeVos’ hearings.
Click here to read the full article at the New Orleans Times-Picayune.