Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Bipartisan Take It Down Act That Bans 'Revenge Porn' Becomes Law
AP: Trump Signs The Take It Down Act. What Is It?
President Donald Trump on Monday signed the Take It Down Act, bipartisan legislation that enacts stricter penalties for the distribution of non-consensual intimate imagery, sometimes called “revenge porn,” as fell as deepfakes created by artificial intelligence. The measure, which goes into effect immediately, was introduced by Sen. Ted Cruz, a Republican from Texas, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a Democrat from Minnesota, and later gained the support of First Lady Melania Trump. Critics of the measure, which addresses both real and artificial intelligence-generated imagery, say the language is too broad and could lead to censorship and First Amendment issues. (Ortutay, 5/20)
On RFK Jr. and 'MAHA' —
Politico: Kennedy Set For Another Hill Face-Off
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will again make the case this week for an unprecedented downsizing of federal agencies — this time before a Senate Appropriations panel on Tuesday. The panel’s chair is someone who’s already found fault with the downsizing: West Virginia Republican Shelley Moore Capito. ... Kennedy will need Capito, whose state still has a significant mining industry, on his side to enact President Donald Trump’s budget proposal for fiscal 2026. It calls for a more-than-$30 billion cut to HHS’s budget — more than a quarter of the agency’s funding. (Zeller, 5/19)
Politico: MAHA To Reveal Plan On Kids' Chronic Diseases
The Trump administration’s Make America Healthy Again commission is set to release its much-awaited report this week that should shed light on its strategy to combat the chronic disease epidemic among American children. The report, to be released Thursday, is expected to identify the key drivers of chronic childhood illness, such as asthma and autoimmune diseases, in the U.S. It could indicate how HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. might shift key health policy and research focuses within the nation’s health agencies as he seeks to further his MAHA agenda. (Hooper and Cirruzzo, 5/19)
Bloomberg: RFK Jr.’s Food Dye Ban Effort Gets Pushback From Dum Dums Maker Spangler
The US government is pushing food companies to switch their bright synthetic dyes to natural colors — but the maker of Dum Dums lollipops and Sweethearts candy hearts is in no rush. Kirk Vashaw, chief executive officer of Spangler Candy Company, said a key problem with changing ingredients is taste. Take beet juice: “That’s a nice red, but it tastes like beets,” he said. (Kubzansky, 5/19)
KFF Health News: This News Might Ruin Your Appetite — And Summer
It’s a marvel of food technology: ice cream that resists melting. In a video explaining the science behind it, a seller of food chemicals shows scoops of ice cream holding their shape under hot lights. The super ingredient? Polysorbate 80. ... Recently, such ingredients have been showing up in scientific studies for another reason: Researchers say they may cause a variety of health problems. (Hilzenrath, 5/20)
More from the Trump administration —
Stat: Trump OSTP Director Calls For Return To 'Gold-Standard Science'
President Trump’s science adviser, Michael Kratsios, called for a return to reproducible and transparent research to kickstart what he characterized as years of stalled scientific progress, in his first detailed public remarks on science policy since taking office in March. (Wosen, 5/19)
KFF Health News: How The Trump Administration Aims To Slash Health Care Spending
Health care has proved a vulnerable target for the firehose of cuts and policy changes President Donald Trump ordered in the name of reducing waste and improving efficiency. But most of the impact isn’t as tangible as, say, higher egg prices at the grocery store. One thing experts from a wide range of fields, from basic science to public health, agree on: The damage will be varied and immense. “It’s exceedingly foolish to cut funding in this way,” said Harold Varmus, a Nobel Prize-winning scientist and former director of both the National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute. (Rosenthal, 5/20)
KFF Health News: Trump Exaggerates Speed And Certainty Of Prescription Drug Price Reductions
President Donald Trump expressed high hopes for an executive order to reduce drug prices. On May 11, the day before he held a White House event to sign the executive order, Trump posted on Truth Social, “Prescription Drug and Pharmaceutical prices will be REDUCED, almost immediately, by 30% to 80%.” However, the executive order’s text, unveiled May 12, undercut the president’s description of how soon consumers could experience this potential boon. (Jacobson, 5/20)
