Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Immigration Ties Up Covid Relief Bill As Congress Returns
The Wall Street Journal: Pandemic Border Policy Could Complicate Covid Relief, Ukraine Bills
When Congress returns this week, a pandemic-era immigration policy could complicate efforts to pass further coronavirus relief legislation and possibly another Ukraine aid measure if centrist Democrats side with Republicans in opposing the Biden administration’s repeal of the border rules. Earlier this month, the Biden administration said that in May it will end its use of Title 42, a controversial policy dating to the Trump administration that allows Border Patrol agents to quickly turn away migrants at the southern border. (Collins and Hackman, 4/25)
The Texas Tribune: Texas Sues To Block Biden Administration From Lifting Title 42
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against the Biden administration on Friday to halt the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from lifting Title 42, a pandemic-era health order used by federal immigration officials to expel migrants, including asylum-seekers, at the U.S.-Mexico border. Title 42, which was enacted in March 2020 by the Trump administration, has been used 1.7 million times to expel migrants. Many of them have been removed multiple times after making repeated attempts to enter the U.S. (Garcia, 4/22)
In other pandemic news from the Biden administration —
Stat: White House Offered Covid Spending Details, But Peeking Was A Process
It was a striking visual for the television cameras. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki took to the lectern, waving a thick, 385-page binder as evidence that contrary to Republicans’ accusations, President Biden had been transparent with Republicans about how his administration had spent billions of dollars to fight Covid-19.“You can have access to this for a prop if you would like it as well,” Psaki offered to reporters. “We’ll make copies for you.” But when STAT took the White House up on the offer, officials refused to make copies of the binder. In fact, it wouldn’t even let STAT take photographs of the contents. Instead, the administration gave this reporter one hour to look through the nearly 400 pages of budget tables and congressional correspondence. White House officials offered the review in a small conference room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building across the street from the White House, under the supervision of a budget office employee. (Cohrs, 4/25)
The Hill: White House Official: US Must Respond To Rising COVID-19 Cases ‘With Care And Caution, But Not Overreacting’
White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha on Sunday said the U.S. should respond to the rising number of coronavirus cases “with care and caution, but not overreacting. ”The number of daily COVID-19 cases in the U.S. has been on the rise, hitting roughly 66,000 infections on Friday, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Asked by co-anchor Dana Bash on CNN’s “State of the Union” about the rise, Jha said the nation should react to the increasing infections differently now compared to one year ago because the U.S. now has vaccines, booster shots and therapeutics. (Schnell, 4/24)
