Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Report: Anti-Addiction Funding Withheld By Trump Administration
NPR: Trump Team Withholds $140 Million Budgeted For Fentanyl Fight
The Trump administration has delayed and may cancel roughly $140 million in grants to fund fentanyl overdose response efforts, according to four staff members with close knowledge of the process at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The staffers shared detailed information with NPR about the funding disruption and potential cuts on the condition of anonymity, saying they don't have permission to speak publicly about their concerns and feared retribution from the Trump administration if identified. (Mann, 7/16)
NPR: What The 988 Crisis Line Offers And How It's Used
The National Suicide and Crisis Lifeline — 988 — launched on this day, three years ago. Millions of people have contacted 988 since the line was launched, through calls, texts and the 988 chat box. And a new study led by researchers at NYU and Johns Hopkins University estimates that 1.6% of the U.S. population used the line between July of 2022 and December of 2024 alone. People who call the line seeking support are connected to a local network of crisis centers and a trained crisis counselor. (Kwong, Carlson and Ramirez, 7/16)
Regarding PEPFAR and funding cuts —
The Hill: White House Agrees To Exempt PEPFAR From Rescissions
Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought told reporters after meeting with Senate Republicans on Tuesday that the White House is on board with a substitute amendment to the rescissions package that would exempt PEPFAR, the global anti-AIDS initiative from cuts. Vought said that the president could accept the substitute amendment to exempt the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, an initiative George W. Bush launched in 2003, from rescissions. (Bolton, 7/15)
The New York Times: Trump Official Accused PEPFAR Of Funding Abortions In Russia. It Wasn’t True
It was a startling, almost unbelievable, allegation. It turned out to be untrue. On June 25, Russell Vought, the director of the Office of Management and Budget, told a Senate committee that the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, known as PEPFAR, had spent $9.3 million “to advise Russian doctors on how to perform abortions and gender analysis.” His statements had immediate consequences for the committee’s vote and had the potential to create long-term damage to PEPFAR, a program that has long had bipartisan support and has been estimated to have saved 26 million lives since President George W. Bush started it in 2003. (Mandavilli, 7/15)
KFF Health News: Listen To The Latest 'KFF Health News Minute'
Zach Dyer reads the week’s news: Federal funding cuts have left some of the nation’s most popular beaches without lifeguards this summer, and new research shows vaccines are good at keeping older adults out of the hospital. ... Katheryn Houghton reads the week’s news: The Trump administration is cutting some programs intended to prevent gun violence, and seniors who don’t sign up for Medicare at age 65 can be on the hook for medical bills, even if they still have health insurance through work. (Cook, 7/15)
CDC, NIH, and MAHA updates —
Bloomberg: Reinstated CDC Officials Have ‘No Clue’ Why They Were Brought Back
US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials who were laid off and subsequently reinstated have “no clue” why, said Paul Schramm, chief of the agency’s climate and health program. “I wish I knew,” he said Tuesday at the Bloomberg Green Festival in Seattle. “We don’t know. There doesn’t seem to be a rhyme or reason to it.” Schramm and climate and health program workers were among roughly 400 CDC employees who, after being fired in April, were subsequently brought back about a month ago. (Court, 7/15)
The Washington Post: NIH Leader Fired Amid Probe Over Using Contract To Hire Spouse, Officials Say
A senior National Institutes of Health leader was fired Monday amid an investigation into a contract on autism and other topics that could have benefited his spouse, according to three officials familiar with the incident who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. A $3.3 million NIH contract to a Louisiana company, Argo Chasing, named Trish Duffy Schnabel, the wife of the NIH’s chief operating officer on its list of staff, according to the officials. (Johnson, Natanson and Diamond, 7/15)
Politico: Why RFK Jr. Wants Canada To Pardon 400 Ostriches
The fate of nearly 400 Canadian ostriches, which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is trying to save, now rests with federal justices in Ottawa. As the controversial case makes its way through court, members of U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration, right-wing influencers and a Republican megadonor are urging the Liberal government to spare the ostriches that were exposed to bird flu. (Djuric, 7/15)
Axios: Gen Z Influencers Give RFK Jr.'s Movement New Edge
A new wave of teen influencers is gaining followers by touting ideas central to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s public health movement, adding a Gen Z edge to a following that's trended toward wellness entrepreneurs and so-called MAHA moms. (Reed, 7/16)
Also —
Bloomberg: Ex-Pfizer Doctor Tells Congress He Didn’t Delay Covid Shot Data
A former Pfizer Inc. scientist denied an allegation made by House Republicans that he conspired to delay the release of Covid shot data to hurt Donald Trump’s 2020 election prospects, the latest twist in a dispute that demonstrates how vaccines are increasingly becoming a political flashpoint. Philip Dormitzer, a former top official at Pfizer, said the idea that he and his colleagues sought to prevent Trump from winning reelection is a “false conspiracy theory,” according to a letter to the House Judiciary Committee obtained by Bloomberg. (Garde, 7/15)
