Sen. Bill Cassidy Backed DEI Bureaucracy Across 4 Major Senate Votes
Sen. Bill Cassidy’s support for major legislation funding diversity, equity and inclusion programs has become a central issue in Louisiana’s 2026 Republican Senate primaries, where Trump-backed Rep. Julia Letlow and Louisiana Treasurer John Fleming are challenging Cassidy.
Cassidy voted for four major pieces of legislation that created federal diversity offices, incorporated equity requirements, and in some cases funded programs later canceled or identified by the Trump administration as DEI initiatives: the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Safer Communities Act.
Cassidy voted to finally pass the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021, then voted to override President Donald Trump’s veto. The bill created diversity chiefs for the Department of the Navy, the Department of the Air Force and the Coast Guard. He also created a Department of Defense Diversity and Inclusion Advisory Council.
Cassidy also played a leading role in drafting and passing the $1.2 trillion bill. Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act. Cassidy was one of the original ten senators who negotiated the bill and became its most prominent Republican supporter.
The infrastructure package included several equity-related provisions. He created the $2.75 billion Digital Equity Act, which guided broadband funding along lines of race and identity. It also incorporated the Biden administration’s Justice40 initiative, requiring 40% of infrastructure benefits to be provided to disadvantaged communities within an equity framework. Additionally, the legislation included $3.5 billion for direct air capture centers, with climate equity requirements tied to the funding.
The Biden administration later promoted the infrastructure bill as “an opportunity to advance equity in our country.” Cassidy didn’t just vote for the bill after it was written; he helped negotiate and draft the legislation that included these provisions from the start.
Cassidy also voted for the $280 billion CHIPS and Science Actwhich passed the Senate 64-33. The law directed the Government Accountability Office to inventory federal research programs for minority-serving institutions, added diversity-related requirements across the federal science funding framework, and created a chief diversity officer position at the National Science Foundation.
After the bill became law, Biden’s Commerce Department imposed additional diversity and equity requirements on CHIPS funding recipients. Cassidy later criticized these regulations in a letter to the Commerce Department, arguing that the administration had added burdensome requirements. But the law Cassidy voted for had already created a chief diversity officer position at the National Science Foundation and included other diversity-focused mandates in federal research funding.
Cassidy was one of the top ten Republican negotiators in the framework behind the Safer Communities Act and one of 15 Senate Republicans to vote for final passage of the bill.
The legislation included $750 million for national crisis intervention programs, $1 billion for school safety and $250 million for community violence prevention initiatives. The Trump administration subsequently rescinded the community violence prevention grants, explicitly labeling them DEI vehicles.
Cassidy supported each of these four bills while distancing himself from President Trump.
In February 2021, Cassidy vote to convict Trump in the Senate impeachment trial following the Jan. 6 riot at the Capitol. After the vote, Cassidy said, “I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty. »
Cassidy following distancing himself from Trump after the impeachment vote. In October 2021, he said he would not vote for Trump in the 2024 presidential election and argued that Trump could not win another general election after Republicans lost the House, Senate, and White House during Trump’s first term. Cassidy said: “President Trump is the first president, at least on the Republican side, to lose the House, the Senate and the presidency in four years. » When asked if he would vote for Trump, Cassidy replied: “I won’t. »
Cassidy repeated this argument in May 2023, claiming that Trump could not defeat Joe Biden in the general election and pointing to Republican losses in the 2022 midterm elections.
In August 2023, Cassidy said Trump is expected to leave the race in 2024. When asked if Trump should withdraw, Cassidy responded, “I think so.” A month later, Cassidy reported openness to supporting or joining a third-party effort without labels rather than supporting Trump, saying, “If they came and talked to me, I would definitely talk back to them.”
Cassidy’s repeated criticism of Trump has fueled growing opposition among Louisiana Republicans. An October 2025 statewide poll showed House Freedom Caucus founding member John Fleming, a former Trump administration official and Louisiana treasurer, is leading Cassidy 25 to 23 percent in the primary and 40 to 29 percent in a potential runoff, as Fleming’s campaign touted more than 200 volunteers and more than 10,000 signs statewide.
In January, President Donald Trump publicly encouraged Rep. Julia Letlow will challenge Cassidy, calling her a “TOTAL WINNER” and writing, “If she decides to enter this race, Julia Letlow has my complete and total support.” RUN, JULIA, RUN!!! » Letlow, who reportedly told her advisers she would only run with Trump’s support, announcement her Senate campaign days later, saying Louisiana “deserves a conservative senator who won’t waver” and that she was running “to ensure the nation we leave for our children is safer and stronger.”
