Transcript: Sen. Bill Cassidy on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan,” Aug. 9, 2026

The following is the transcript of an interview with Sen. Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, that aired on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” on Aug. 9, 2026.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Good morning, and welcome to ‘Face the Nation.’ Both the House and the Senate are now gone for the summer, but we begin with one lawmaker who hasn’t taken off quite yet for his home state, Louisiana Republican Senator Bill Cassidy. Good morning, and thank you for delaying your departure to be here in person. It’s good to talk to you.

SENATOR BILL CASSIDY: Good to be with you. Good morning.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So you were skeptical, you made that clear back when we spoke in June of Todd Blanche and confirming him to be Attorney General. You did late Friday confirm him, but you said you’re not entirely satisfied. You no doubt will have concern in the future, and I want to play for our viewers what you said. Take a listen.

[START SOUND ON TAPE]

SEN. CASSIDY: I’ll be criticized for this vote. What’s new? But the people of Louisiana can be assured that I worked hard to understand the issue and to make the right decision.

[END SOUND ON TAPE]

MARGARET BRENNAN: You were emotional there. Your voice cracked. Why? And why do you think you’re going to be criticized?

SEN. CASSIDY: Oh, you’re going to be criticized. My voice cracked because my wife thinks it’s endearing. I think it’s embarrassing. But sometimes you’re aware of the incredible privilege of representing your state and your nation. Incredible privilege, and as a- as a little boy, I would read history books, and I- and I’d read about these great decisions on the Senate floor, and the fact that I have the ability to participate, and after an intense 48 hours of coming up with a decision that wasn’t black or white. You can argue one way or the other, and you can come up with just this side or just that side of approval. Now, the fact that I, Bill Cassidy, was able to do that, I am so privileged. And whenever I just for a second am hit by the gravity of that and the honor of that, I get emotional. And- and and that’s just again, my wife finds it endearing. I find it embarrassing.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, it does have a great gravity to a decision like this, and you weighed it very carefully when we spoke back in June. You you were specific in some of your concerns, and I know acting Attorney General Blanche now, who’s set for that confirmation had posted documents, including he rescinded the order to create the anti-weaponization fund, and he had an unsigned statement in which he narrowed the terms of the Trump-IRS protections that you had objected to. Now they’ll apply just to Trump, Don Jr., Eric and the Trump Organization. Senator Durbin, who’s the top Democrat on Judiciary, said these new clarifications-they’re unenforceable. Is he correct? 

SEN. CASSIDY: So, a couple things. Again, one more time, if you’re looking for a black or white decision here, you’re not going to find it. This is a gradation of gray. But what I’m told as regards to the anti-weaponization fund, if you put it in the context of the political environment, the judicial environment, the process you would have to go back through in order to reinstate that effectively is dead. Now, John Cornyn, a former state attorney general in Texas, was comfortable with it. I’m not an attorney.

MARGARET BRENNAN: It took him a while to get there, though–

SEN. CASSIDY: –Took him a while to get there- 

MARGARET BRENNAN: –Basically said we can’t take his word for it. 

SEN. CASSIDY: It took him a while to get there, but the fact that John did was important to me to a certain extent. I’m relying on others that are bringing me information, and I have to trust them on that. Not everything, but some of that, and I trust John on that.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And on giving his family protection from IRS probes?

SEN. CASSIDY: That’s totally wrong. Totally wrong. And so I will go back. This is not a black or white decision. That is wrong, and no American should be targeted by the law, but no American should be above the law, and that, frankly, almost weighed to vote no.

MARGARET BRENNAN: And you’re just hoping it- you had to accept it in the end, I mean–

SEN. CASSIDY: So, let’s look at the positive. There’s three aspects to the attorney general. The attorney general is supposed to give advice to the president, supposed to run the Department of Justice and is supposed to make sure that the U.S. attorneys nationwide are doing their job. It really weighs strongly in his favor when I speak to my U.S. attorneys in Louisiana, and I spoke specifically to David Courcelle and Kurt Wall, and they said, listen, we have calls once weekly between our office and DOJ, and they give metrics for our prosecutors, and each individual prosecutor is weighed on that metric, and we’ve had our focus restricted down to fighting violent crime, human and drug trafficking, and going after fraud in programs like Medicare and Medicaid. And if I need extra resources to bring a case home, we do it. And if there’s a drug kingpin, we get the resources to go after them, and- and our morale is up, not despite the accountability, because of the accountability. Now, if you want a DOJ which is actually doing its job, you need stable leadership, and you need leadership which is effective, and in that which is making the greatest difference in my life, in your life, in the American people’s life. There’s a lot of positive things to say about Todd Blanche. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: And you are confident that he will uphold the constitution with the upcoming elections? There are Democrats saying he may not.

SEN. CASSIDY: Well, of course, there’s always this existential anxiety.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes. 

SEN. CASSIDY: But I am as confident as you can be about the future you are. I cannot predict the future, and this is not a black or white decision. But I’m confident on that.

MARGARET BRENNAN: I want to ask you about something that’s come up in the news recently. On this program, we have talked extensively about the really concerning rise in anti-Semitism in this country. There have been remarks in the past few days from some of your Republican colleagues that do seem hateful about other religions, specifically about Dr. Abdul Al-Sayed in Michigan, who just won that Democratic primary. Senator Tommy Tuberville said, “Democrats just voted to send a terrorist to the Senate. He’s a radical Islamist.” Nancy Mace said, “every single Muslim holding public office in America is a Trojan horse and a threat to both national security and our republic. We refuse to be silent.” These are just two of these statements. Are you comfortable here? Does your party need to condemn language like this?

SEN. CASSIDY: I condemn language like that. It’s not to say that- let me just stop. The- the- the- the- the- the- Muslims that I typically work with are doctors working in a remote area of Louisiana who otherwise would not have a physician unless Dr. Mohammed actually agreed to move there and be their doctor. Or he is the- or she is the professor teaching students something positive. Now- so you have to take every community in its totality. Every community has a bad apple, and every community has those people, my gosh, weren’t they wonderful people? Now, my exposure has been to the wonderful people. I condemn those statements, and everybody should be treated as an individual. If somebody is awful, they should be treated as awful. But we shouldn’t treat everybody as awful because somebody with whom they are identified may be awful, if you follow that. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: I do. Thank you for your clarity on that. I want to ask you about Social Security, something I know you’ve been trying to work on here and reform. It’s an emergency. If you look at the Social Security Board of Trustees, they say it’s going to be insolvent in six years. 70 million beneficiaries will see a 22% cut to their checks every month, which means about $500 less in their pockets each single month. You’ve got a few months. What can you get done?

SEN. CASSIDY: So we’re trying to get something done. We were trying to set up a process by which the Senate would invite the House to join and present bills that could be a solution. We don’t dictate what the bill would be. It could be Ron Wyden’s bill. It could be Bernie Sanders’ bill. It could be Bill Cassidy’s bill. We would just present things to the Congress in order for us to consider. To set up that process. 

MARGARET BRENNAN: A pathway. 

SEN. CASSIDY: I tried to get that set up. Ron Wyden came to the floor and objected, and I’m thinking, why are you objecting to a process? It could be your bill that we choose. Why doesn’t congress do its job? Congress wants to be political. We’re always angling to try and get the advantage, particularly in front of an election. As you read, the actuaries predict this fund is insolvent in six years. This is not the time to be political. It is the time to be a good senator. I was told by a couple of my colleagues, I’m a lousy politician, but a good senator. I would challenge everybody at this moment to be a good senator. And by the way, when you object just because of politics, as best I can tell, that’s just so incredibly wrong.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, there is a Democrat looking to do something on this. Elizabeth Warren had this op-ed with Bernie Moreno, the Republican from Ohio, this past week, arguing that in order to help Social Security, they should eliminate the payroll tax cap, which currently applies to the first $184,500 bucks someone takes home, the rest of it being exempt if they make more than that. Do you support this proposal?

SEN. CASSIDY: First, let me say this is not Republican, Democrat. Dick Durbin is the one who’s leading the charge with me to try and get this done. And so, absolutely, as a bipartisan, yes, let’s set up that process as regards as regards the solution– 

MARGARET BRENNAN: –Yes- yes– 

SEN. CASSIDY: — that would be one of the things we consider. If Elizabeth and Bernie Moreno want to get their proposal considered, we first have to set up this process, and that’s all Dick Durbin and I are trying to do is to set up a process.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You’re trying to force the conversation to be had, but– 

SEN. CASSIDY:   –And- and if we come up with a solution to force the fact that it would be considered in committee, and then force the fact it would be considered on the floor. And once you force those two things, we could actually come up with a solution this year.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, AARP opposes your PROMISE Act because they say you got to do the hard work now. But you’re saying no one’s doing the hard work now, so you need to at least create the–  

SEN. CASSIDY: — No one is doing the hard work now. And by the way, what I said to AARP, if- would you accept that we would do this if it wasn’t a commission, they don’t like commissions, if we come up with just senators and representatives that would come together over the next two months with open hearings, and then we would in these next two months have the open hearings, and then we present the solutions? They said they would accept that, and so that’s what we came up with.

MARGARET BRENNAN: But- how do you get Bernie Moreno’s here? Okay, you’re here. But how do you get other Republicans when President Trump has said campaigned on a promise not to touch Social Security, and you have these midterm races– ? 

SEN. CASSIDY:  — So- so implicit in your kind of question is that you’re going to cut benefits, that you’re going to do something harmful. That’s not–  

MARGARET BRENNAN: –Well, he said he won’t touch it. 

SEN. CASSIDY:  That’s not on the table. What if you touch it and you rescue it? I think the president would touch that. What if you touch it and you actually increase benefits for some? I think the president would touch that. But by the way, congress should be acting independently of the president. The president is not congress, and so we should do our job and we should step forward, no matter your party. Put politics aside.

MARGARET BRENNAN: As you’ve said, though, congress sometimes acts like an appendage of the president.

SEN. CASSIDY: Which is wrong and right now–- 

MARGARET BRENNAN: But do you have any agreement from leadership of your party that they will take this up?

SEN. CASSIDY:  And by the way, that was- that’s what we were voting on. Let’s set up a process by which the leadership would be forced to consider the solutions put forward, and any senator could replace a particular solution with their own proposal, it would be the way congress is supposed to work.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So you would be open to things like raising the retirement age again?

SEN. CASSIDY: I’m not- I’m not predicting- one, that is not part of my plan. Let me first say that.

MARGARET BRENNAN: You don’t want to be prescriptive in the solution. You just want the process?

SEN. CASSIDY: Yes, but I have a plan, and we don’t raise the retirement age in my plan. But that said–

MARGARET BRENNAN: This is the sovereign wealth fund–

SEN. CASSIDY: –somebody else may have a plan that does it- what’s that? 

MARGARET BRENNAN: This is the sovereign wealth fund plan you had with Senator Kaine? 

SEN. CASSIDY: This is the one where you do a investment fund and you put $1.5 trillion in it and you allow it to grow with the economy. It’s what the Canadians do, the Norwegians do, the Japanese do. It’s what the U.S. government does with the Federal railroad retirement system. When you do that, the growth in the economy takes care of a lot of the problem with the debt.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Is anyone at the White House listening to you?

SEN. CASSIDY:  So, Howard Lutnick actually spoke. I’ve spoken to he and Bessent and others. But Howard Lutnick in one of our Republican lunches spoke about how such an investment fund could be used as Google uses it and others use it to meet future obligations. And so certainly they’ve entertained it. And whenever you talk to somebody who does this sort of thing, they say, like, why aren’t we doing this?

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right. Well, I want to talk about this as well with- with Senator Sanders, who we have later on in the program. I want to ask you about something you have raised was concerning to you back in June when we spoke. You had a really tough exchange with the president over the Iran War, and you said you were not getting enough information at that time. You got a private briefing. You were giving them some space to work on the diplomacy. That’s all collapsed now. We are back in hostilities. Does the president need to deliver to the public some explanation of what is going on?

SEN. CASSIDY: Yes, I think he does. JD Vance came and spoke to the Republican lunch and did a good job of explaining the perspective as how to go forward, and someone said, not me, someone else, JD, the president needs to give that same message to the people. And JD said, well, the president has. Well, he may have, but it’s being kind of overwhelmed by everything else being said, and so I think the president needs to come out and speak forcefully on what the path forward is, and- and at some point it may be that- that- that path forward works or not, but at least there needs to be that dialogue with the American people.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Can you explain to us what that path forward was that JD Vance explained to you? 

SEN. CASSIDY: So I’ll do my best to continue to put economic pressure, for example, by blockades upon the Iranians that will cause them enough discomfort that they will actually come back to the bargaining table. At the same time, continue to get oil through the Strait of Hormuz. JD points out that oil is $80 more than the $60 it was at the start, but a lot less than it was at $110 at the peak. And so we are having success getting oil out of the Strait, and that success blunts the effectiveness of what the Iranians are trying to do at the Strait of Hormuz. But that continued economic pressure, while alleviating the pressure on the west, as well as continued selective operations, is part of a long-term strategy. It’s not something that ends it tomorrow, but something which gradually brings it to a close.

MARGARET BRENNAN: So this is really sort of an extended, open-ended hostility situation?

SEN. CASSIDY:  I won’t speak for JD, but I do think that again we- everybody assumes that something’s going to start and end.

MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.

SEN. CASSIDY: But we’ve been with the Iranians now for 47 years, and I think their point is- is that this is a continuation of that policy by other means.

MARGARET BRENNAN:  Senator Cassidy, thank you for joining us today.

SEN. CASSIDY: Thank you, Margaret.

MARGARET BRENNAN:  “Face the Nation” will be back in a minute. Stay with us.