Manchin Joins Republicans in Blocking VA Nominee Over Abortion Policy
Sen. Joe Manchin, a Democrat from West Virginia, has joined with Republicans on the Veterans Affairs Committee to block the confirmation of President Joe Biden's nominee for general counsel at Veterans Affairs, Politico reports. Manchin and the Republicans oppose a policy the VA adopted to counsel patients on abortion and provide the procedure under limited circumstances. The nomination has been stalled for more than a year.
Politico:
Manchin Snarls Top VA Nominee Over Abortion
Manchin (D-W.Va.) has joined Republicans on the Veterans’ Affairs Committee in blocking Anjali Chaturvedi, a top Department of Justice lawyer, over the agency’s policy allowing it to provide abortion counseling and some abortions. The VA last fall finalized the policy, which enables it to provide the procedure when the life or health of a veteran or beneficiary is in peril, or in cases of rape or incest. The policy also covers dependents. (Leonard, 9/28)
In other news —
KFF Health News:
Social Security Overpayments Draw Scrutiny And Outrage From Members Of Congress
Several members of Congress are calling on the Social Security Administration to answer for issuing billions of dollars of payments it says beneficiaries weren’t entitled to receive — and then demanding the money back. Many of the recipients are elderly, poor, or disabled and have already spent the money. They have little or no way of repaying it. (Hilzenrath and Fleischer, 9/29)
Politico:
House Judiciary Committee Approves Bill To Combat Illicit Opioids
The House Judiciary Committee advanced legislation Thursday to reauthorize the Support for Patients and Communities Reauthorization Act, a major 2018 opioid law providing treatment and support to people with opioid use disorder. The measure includes an amendment by New York Rep. Jerry Nadler, the top Democrat on the panel, that would make the horse sedative xylazine — which drug traffickers are adding to illicit fentanyl with deadly effect — a Schedule III controlled substance, for three years, subject to additional Drug Enforcement Administration regulation. (Paun, 9/28)
Stat:
Senator Probes 340B Programs At Cleveland Clinic, Bon Secours
The top-ranking Republican on the Senate health committee is launching an investigation into two hospitals’ use of a government program that provides big drug discounts in return for serving low-income communities. (Wilkerson, 9/28)
The Hill:
Bipartisan Battle Over Prescription Intermediaries Heats Up
The intermediaries in the prescription drug supply chain are stuck between a rock and a hard place, facing congressional scrutiny and pharmaceutical-industry-backed efforts to reform the multibillion-dollar industry. Pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) have emerged as a bipartisan target in a divided Congress. (Choi and Giorno, 9/28)
Politico:
Cardin Vows To Re-Up Global AIDS Program But There’s No Deal In Sight
Sen. Ben Cardin (D-Md.) said Thursday he will keep pushing for a five-year renewal of the country’s $7 billion annual global HIV-AIDS initiative, even as his colleagues call for a shorter extension to satisfy anti-abortion groups. “It’s important to give the signal to the international community that we’re in the game,” said Cardin, who took over as chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee this week after Sen. Bob Menendez was indicted. (Miranda Ollstein and Paun, 9/28)
KFF Health News:
GOP Presidential Primary Debate No. 2: An Angry Rematch And The Same Notable No-Show
From the start of the second Republican presidential primary debate of the 2024 campaign, the seven candidates on stage were boisterous and unruly. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Vice President Mike Pence, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum spent most of the evening talking loudly over — and sometimes quite angrily at — one another. (9/28)
The Boston Globe:
Sec. Tutwiler: More Mental Health Support In Schools A "Priority"
Similar to the updated health, physical, and sex education framework the Board of Elementary and Secondary Education unanimously approved last week, the mental and behavioral health framework would be a set of guidelines and recommendations for how schools and teachers could teach about mental health in all grades, Tutwiler said. “What we want to do is establish a strategy around mental health and that, quite frankly, does not exist,” Tutwiler said in an interview with the Globe on Thursday. (Griswold, 9/28)
On the Biden administration —
Politico:
FDA Fines 22 Retailers In 13 States For Selling Illegal Vapes
The FDA on Thursday said that for the first time, it was fining 22 retailers for more than $19,000 each after it found they continued to sell unauthorized flavored e-cigarettes despite warnings to stop. (Ellen Foley, 9/28)
Politico:
The Trump Health Insurance Policy That Biden Hasn’t Scrapped
When President Joe Biden took office, his administration gutted many of the health policies former President Donald Trump had implemented. But there’s one Trump-era health insurance regulation that Biden has yet to touch: the 2019 rule that allowed employers to provide tax-exempt subsidies to help workers purchase Obamacare plans. The lack of action is puzzling left-leaning health care advocates who say the Trump rule allows employers to dump sicker, more expensive employees onto the Affordable Care Act exchanges, raising premiums for everyone else. (Hooper, 9/28)
Also —
Bloomberg:
J&J Sees Talc-Suit Surge After $9 Billion Bankruptcy Plan Tossed
Johnson & Johnson has seen at least a 28% surge in new lawsuits claiming its talc-based Baby Powder causes cancer a little more than five weeks after the company’s plan to resolve the cases was tossed from bankruptcy court. A New Jersey judge overseeing all the federal talc litigation said in a Sept. 6 court hearing that more than 11,000 new complaints have been filed, according to a court transcript. (Feeley, 9/28)
