Defense Bill With Anti-Abortion Clause Won’t Pass: National Security Adviser
News outlets cover a prediction from national security adviser Jake Sullivan who said the Republican-controlled House's annual defense policy bill, with amendments that target abortion, gender care, and other social issues, has "zero" chance of passing. Separately, worries that "deep" cuts to health spending will hit the HHS and CDC.
USA Today:
Defense Bill Won't Get To Biden's Desk, National Security Adviser Says
National security adviser Jake Sullivan said the Republican-controlled House’s version of the annual defense policy bill has zero chance of making it to President Joe Biden’s desk after Republicans added a litany of culture war amendments to the bill that “mix domestic social debates with the security needs of our nation.” (Tran, 7/16)
Politico:
GOP-Backed Defense Bill Won't Pass, National Security Adviser Says
National security adviser Jake Sullivan was emphatic that the version of the National Defense Authorization Act that passed the House last week will never make it to President Joe Biden. “This legislation is never getting to the president’s desk,“ Sullivan said on CNN’s “State of the Union.“ “Because what you have seen from an extreme group of Republicans is to put forward a set of amendments that try to mix domestic social debates with the needs, the security needs of our nation.“ (Cohen, 7/16)
In other developments —
The Hill:
House Panel Advances Funding Bill With Deep Cuts To Health Agencies
Legislation to fund the departments of Health and Human Services (HHS), Education, and Labor cleared a House Appropriations subcommittee by voice vote Friday, despite objections from Democrats over sharp cuts to health agency funding and anti-abortion provisions. (Weixel, 7/14)
CNN:
CDC Facing Major Funding Cuts, With Direct Impact On State And Local Health Departments
But the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is poised to lose about $1.3 billion in funds as a result of last month’s federal debt ceiling negotiation that were initially allocated through Covid-19 supplemental funding, the agency shared with CNN. An earlier estimate from the Congressional Budget Office estimated the impact on CDC to be closer to $1.5 billion, but there is ongoing analysis about exactly which dollars could be rescinded. The grant that funded those disease intervention specialists across the country was one of the first things to be rescinded. The last two years of the five-year grant were slashed across the board, a more than $400 million blow. (McPhillips and Goodman, 7/14)
Reuters:
Court Blocks Curbs On US Government Contact With Social Media Companies For Now
A U.S. appeals court on Friday temporarily blocked a lower court order that had sharply limited certain Biden administration officials' and agencies' contacts with social media companies. The ruling from the New Orleans-based 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals means that the administration is not bound, for now, by a July 6 order by U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty in Monroe, Louisiana. Doughty had found that officials' efforts to limit the spread of posts they considered to be misinformation on social media violated the right to free speech under the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. (Pierson, 7/14)
In news relating to covid —
CIDRAP:
Report: Hospitals May Have Received Too Much COVID Relief
A cohort study today shows that 75% of US hospitals had a positive net operating income in 2020 and 2021, with many seeing operating margins reach all-time highs, suggesting COVID-19 relief funds may have been larger than what was necessary during the first years of the pandemic. The study is published in JAMA Health Forum. (Soucheray, 7/14)
Politico:
RFK Jr. Denies Comments On ‘Ethnically Targeted’ Covid-19 Were Anti-Semitic
Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. denied allegations of racism and anti-Semitism Saturday after he reportedly suggested Covid-19 could have been genetically engineered to reduce risks to Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese people. (Hodgman, 7/15)