Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Some FDA Inspectors, Other Workers Reinstated With Far Less Ballyhoo
Stat: Some FDA Employees Fired By The Trump Administration Are Rehired
The Trump administration has started quietly rehiring some of the Food and Drug Administration employees it fired last week, according to nine agency sources, shortly after letting them go in a process that insiders described as abrupt and haphazard. The total number of employees rehired is unclear, but in at least some cases the reinstatements appeared to be broad. (Lawrence, 2/23)
Roll Call: Senate Democrats Press HHS Over FDA Firings
A pair of Democratic senators are pushing back against the Trump administration’s decision to terminate a host of positions at the Food and Drug Administration, raising concerns that the firings could affect drug and device approvals and food safety efforts. (DeGroot, 2/21)
NPR: Trump To Put 4,700 USAID Employees On Leave, Eliminate 1,600 Jobs
The Trump administration is putting nearly all of USAID's 4,700 full-time employees on paid administrative leave at midnight Sunday and will subsequently terminate 1,600 of those positions as part of a "reduction in force," according to a memo that was widely distributed to agency staff Sunday afternoon and later published on the USAID website. The memo says that the terminated positions will be U.S.-based. (Tanis and Schreiber, 2/23)
CBS News: Mental Health Agency Loses 1 In 10 Staffers To DOGE Cuts, 988 Hotline Team Impacted
More than 10% of the staff working for the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration were fired this month as part of the government-wide cuts to recently hired federal workers ordered by Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE, task force. The cuts amounted to around 100 probationary workers, multiple current and former federal health officials told CBS News, and affected multiple teams around the department, ranging from recently hired directors of SAMHSA's regional offices to staff working on projects related to the 988 hotline for people facing mental health crises, which the agency oversees. (Tin, 2/21)
ProPublica: They Worked To Prevent Death. The Trump Administration Fired Them.
Every day, they tackled complex issues with life-or-death stakes: A failure to get donor organs to critically ill patients. Tobacco products designed to appeal to kids. Maternal and infant death. They were hired after lawmakers and bureaucrats debated and negotiated and persuaded their colleagues — sometimes over the course of years — to make those problems someone’s job to solve. Then, this month, they were fired as part of President Donald Trump’s widespread purge of federal workers. Suddenly, the future of their public health missions was in question. (Waldman and Eldeib, 2/22)
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The Hill: White House Restores 9/11 Health Program Funding After Uproar
The White House restored funding for the 9/11 first responder survivors’ health program after an uproar from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle ensued following the Department of Government Efficiency’s (DOGE) cuts last week. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis, one of the eight New York and New Jersey GOP lawmakers who urged President Trump to reverse course, said Thursday night that the legislators “received confirmation from the White House that there will be no cuts to staffing at the World Trade Center Healthcare Program and research grants related to 9/11 illnesses.” (Timotija, 2/21)
ProPublica: Anxiety Mounts Among Social Security Recipients as DOGE Troops Settle In
Their first wave of actions — initiating the elimination of 41 jobs and the closing of at least 10 local offices, so far — was largely lost in the rush of headlines. Those first steps might seem restrained compared with the mass firings that DOGE has pursued at other federal agencies. But Social Security recipients rely on in-person service in all 50 states, and the shuttering of offices, reported on DOGE’s website to include locations everywhere from rural West Virginia to Las Vegas, could be hugely consequential. The closures potentially reduce access to Social Security for some of the most vulnerable people in this country — including not just retirees but also individuals with severe physical and intellectual disabilities, as well as children whose parents have died and who’ve been left in poverty. (Hager, 2/22)
Axios: Trump's DEI Attacks Uproot Protections For Americans With Disabilities
People with disabilities say President Trump's DEI purge is eroding health care, education and legal protections they've only won in recent decades. The Trump administration has taken actions that undermine accessibility measures — critical for leveling the playing field for people with disabilities — as part of its efforts targeting diversity, equity, and inclusion efforts. (Rubin and Goldman, 2/23)
Fierce Healthcare: Trump Defends Drug Price Negotiation Program In Novartis Lawsuit
The Trump administration, perhaps surprisingly, chose to defend the legality of the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA’s) drug price negotiation program enacted under President Joe Biden. In a filing Feb. 19, the government agreed with the legal arguments used by the prior administration and by a lower court, dealing a blow to pharmaceutical drugmakers enraged by the program. (Tong, 2/24)
KFF Health News: Trump Froze Out Project 2025 In His Campaign. Now Its Blueprint Is His Health Care Playbook
Few voters likely expected President Donald Trump in the first weeks of his administration to slash billions of dollars from the nation’s premier federal cancer research agency. But funding cuts to the National Institutes of Health were presaged in Project 2025’s “Mandate for Leadership,” a conservative plan for governing that Trump said he knew nothing about during his campaign. Now, his administration has embraced it. (Armour, 2/24)
