Cassidy later became one of ten Republican senators to support a bipartisan agreement on gun control, which included a red flag provision, a support for state crisis intervention orders, funding for school safety resources, stronger background checks for buyers under the age of 21, and penalties for straw purchases. Taxes In 2019, along with Democrats Amy Klobuchar and Doug Jones and Republican Pat Toomey, Cassidy was a lead sponsor of the Gold Star Family Tax Relief Act, a bill that would undo a provision in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that raised the tax on the benefit children receive from a parent's Department of Defense survivor benefits plan to 37% from an average of 12% to 15% before the 2017 law. The bill passed in the Senate in May 2019. On July 30, 2019, Cassidy and Senator Kyrsten Sinema released a proposal under which new parents would be authorized to advance their child tax credit benefits in order to receive a $5,000 cash benefit upon either birth or adoption of a child. The parents' child tax credit would then be reduced by $500 for each year of the following decade. The senators described their proposal as the first bipartisan paid parental leave plan. Abortion Cassidy opposes abortion after 20 weeks and any federal funding for abortion. He supported the 2022 overturning of Roe v. Wade, calling it a decision that "recognizes that an unborn child has a right to life." Personal life Cassidy's wife, Laura (née Layden), is also a physician; they met during their respective residencies in Los Angeles and married on September 29, 1989. In the early 1990s, both worked at the Earl K. Long Medical Center, where Laura was the hospital's head of surgery. Cassidy worked as a gastroenterologist at the facility until it closed in 2013. They have three children. They are members of The Chapel on the Campus, a nondenominational Christian church that meets on LSU's campus in Baton Rouge. Electoral history Louisiana State Senate U.S. House of Representatives U.S. Senate See also Physicians in the United States Congress References External links U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy official U.S. Senate website Bill Cassidy for U.S. Senate campaign website |- |- |- |- |- 1957 births 21st-century American politicians American people of Irish descent American people of Welsh descent Living people Republican Party Louisiana state senators Louisiana State University alumni People from Highland Park, Illinois Physicians