U.S. Rep. Bill Cassidy, R-Baton Rouge, officially opened his U.S. Senate campaign headquarters at the Republican Party of Louisiana’s office in Lake Charles during a rally Tuesday afternoon.

Cassidy, thanking volunteers and activists for their support, said it was important to gain a Republican vote in Southwest Louisiana. He said Louisiana’s vote in the coming elections will be pivotal in determining which party holds the majority in the Senate next year.

“The Senate has become a rubber stamp for Barack Obama,” Cassidy said. “If people don’t like the direction that Barack Obama’s taking us, change the Senate. And that starts in Louisiana.”

He criticized his opponent, incumbent Democratic U.S. Sen. Mary Landrieu, for supporting the Obama administration “97 percent of the time,” for voting for the Affordable Care Act and for supporting EPA regulations that tie local industry in red tape.

Referring to Landrieu’s vote for the Affordable Care Act, Cassidy said, “I think we can do it better. We can have a way in which, without mandates and without taxes, we can provide a safety net, an insurance program in which you have the power, not a federal bureaucrat.”

Cassidy, a critic of Environmental Protection Agency sanctions on industry, recently proposed a bill that would keep the executive authority’s control over EPA regulations in check. He said he did not expect the bill, the “Energy Consumers Relief Act,” to pass the Senate. He stressed the importance of having a Republican majority in the Senate next year to get legislation passed that considers the EPA regulations’ effect on the economy, specifically on the industries in Southwest Louisiana.

“President Obama hates oil and gas — it’s amazing,” he said. “The power of that industry to create jobs directly and indirectly is unparalleled, and for some reason that man doesn’t like it.”

Cassidy also responded to concerns about why he had not refuted false information spread about him through campaign ads. He said he had waited to confront accusations until he had a larger audience, but that he would soon refute the claims publicly. He said this strategy has paid off by conserving campaign funding to be used in the critical months ahead.

Cassidy recognized local volunteers and elected officials who had helped support his campaign and handed out a number of awards.

“We don’t beat the most powerful man in the world and the senator that supports him 97 percent of the time without your help, but with your help we cannot lose,” he said. “The future of our country depends upon us, in this room, changing our state, our country, our history.”(MGNonline)