He’s at it again.

A few months back, we flagged Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy for repeatedly siding with Democrats on issues core to conservatives. Bad news: he’s at it again.

From his perch as chair of the Senate HELP Committee, Cassidy is now pushing to gut the 340B drug discount program — a program that overwhelmingly benefits rural, working-class communities across red states. In other words, the GOP base.

Cassidy is spinning it as “reform.” But some of his proposals echo talking points from none other than Democratic VP nominee Gov. Tim Walz. And what these “reforms” really mean is this: fewer discounts for rural hospitals, more profits for Big Pharma, and a higher chance taxpayers will be asked to bail out the system later.

Funny how that works out.

Why would Cassidy push this? Well, follow the money.

In just the first quarter of this year, Cassidy reported $16,500 in contributions from employees of PhRMA, Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, and Sanofi—companies leading the charge to dismantle 340B. That haul came within mere days. And it’s no fluke. Pharma was his #4 top donor sector in 2024, and #5 in the 2022 cycle. Cassidy has a long and lucrative relationship with the industry.

It’s a strange play, especially at a time when the GOP base has turned decisively against Big Pharma. Stranger still considering Cassidy is up for re-election.

But for conservatives, it shouldn’t come as a surprise. This isn’t the first time Cassidy’s drifted off-course from the MAGA movement—and it likely won’t be the last.