Cassidy preparing for approaching session

With the U.S. House expected to convene its next session this week, possibly as early as tomorrow, Baton Rouge’s representative says he intends to pick up right where he left off in August. For U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, a Republican, that means fighting the ongoing federal moratorium on deepwater drilling, which was enacted in response to the Deepwater Horizon disaster. “A bill doing just that has already passed the House,” says Cassidy. “All we have to do now is keep beating the drum. We need to put pressure on (President Barack Obama). Near-term, that’s the highest priority.” From a marketing perspective, Cassidy says his staff will be promoting AmericaSpeakingOut.com, an effort by House Republicans to start a dialogue with voters on important issues. “You can go there and register your thoughts on policy,” Cassidy says. “And, seriously, this is going to be tracked closely by the Republican leadership.” As for the long-term, Cassidy says he’s in the beginning phase of forming a partnership with former Wyoming state treasurer Cynthia Lewis that could yield some ideas on handling the nation’s pending Medicaid crisis. “This should be interesting,” he says. “We don’t want to sacrifice care, but we do want to prevent fiscal insanity.” Overall, Cassidy says voters shouldn’t let their hopes get too high for something substantial to come out of the session, especially with elections around the corner. Both major parties will be out to stick it to the other. —Jeremy Alford