Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Congressional HIV Panel Sends Trump Bipartisan Request For Explanation Of Policies
Stat: HIV Panel Resignations Spur Lawmakers To Seek Answers From White House
The leaders of the Congressional HIV/AIDS Caucus are demanding answers from the White House after a mass exodus from a presidential advisory group. Reps. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), the co-chairs of that group, delivered a letter last week to President Trump that called for the White House to back off proposed budget cuts to HIV/AIDS programs, revamp the currently blank website it scrubbed in January, and to appoint a national AIDS policy director, all after six council members jointly resigned. Those members slammed Trump for not caring about the issue in a public letter of resignation earlier this month. (Facher, 6/26)
The New York Times: Trump Signs Bill Meant To Restore Trust In V.A.
President Trump signed a bill into law on Friday that will make it easier for the Department of Veterans Affairs to remove bad employees and promote whistle-blowing. It is the first step toward fulfilling a campaign pledge by Mr. Trump to make sweeping changes at the beleaguered agency. (Haberman and Fandos, 6/23)
CQ Roll Call: The Trump Budget: Health And Human Services
The Trump administration quickly drew harsh criticism for its plans to strip billions from medical research and public health agencies, with a top GOP House appropriator among the most vocal skeptics of the proposal. House Labor-HHS-Education Appropriations Chairman Tom Cole, R-Okla., in May said the budget request disappointed him, especially since Congress worked in a bipartisan way to boost the National Institutes of Health funding by $2 billion in each of the previous two years. President Donald Trump is seeking to cut $7 billion in fiscal 2018 from the NIH’s current $34 billion budget. (Young, 6/26)
