Trump Administration Again Ordered To Unfreeze Federal Grants
A federal judge initially ruled Jan. 29 that the administration could not “pause, freeze, impede, block, cancel, or terminate” money that Congress had allocated to the states to pay for Medicaid, low-income housing subsidies, and other essential services. Monday's ruling orders the administration to comply. Separately, another federal judge has temporarily blocked attempts to limit research funding.
The New York Times:
Judge Rules That Trump Administration Defied Order To Unfreeze Billions In Federal Grants
A federal judge said on Monday that the White House had defied his order to release billions of dollars in federal grants, marking the first time a judge has expressly declared that the Trump administration is disobeying a judicial mandate. The ruling by Judge John J. McConnell Jr. in Rhode Island federal court ordered administration officials to comply with what the judge called “the plain text” of an ruling he issued on Jan. 29. (Schwartz, 2/10)
NBC News:
Judge Blocks Trump Administration From Cutting Research Funding After 22 States Sue
A federal judge temporarily halted the Trump administration's radical changes to how the National Institutes of Health pays for biomedical research, putting on hold a plan to slash research funding paid out by the federal government. Twenty-two state attorneys general filed a lawsuit Monday against the plan, which would limit how it pays out universities and research institutes for “indirect costs.” (Bush, 2/10)
CBS News:
Carnegie Mellon University Joins Federal Lawsuit Over Cuts To Life-Saving Research
Carnegie Mellon University has joined a federal lawsuit aimed at stopping the National Institute of Health from implementing steep cuts to how medical research grants are funded. The lawsuit was filed in Massachusetts by the Association of American Universities and challenges the NIH seeking to cap the amount of money that research institutions can claim for "indirect costs," for general expenses like facilities and administration, at 15%, down from an average of around 27 to 28%. (Shinn, 2/11)
Stat:
Key GOP Senators Push Back Against NIH Funding Cuts
Key Republican senators began pushing back Monday against a policy change by the National Institutes of Health that would substantially cut funding for research overhead to universities, medical centers, and other grant recipients. (Wilkerson, 2/10)
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On the foreign aid freeze —
Politico:
First Lawsuit Targets Trump’s Foreign Aid Freeze
A liberal-leaning advocacy group filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration Monday seeking to halt the freeze on foreign aid the administration has imposed. The group, Public Citizen, argues the freeze on funds appropriated by Congress is unlawful and is endangering lives abroad. (Paun, 2/10)
Bloomberg:
US To Continue Limited PEPFAR Services In South Africa, Embassy Says
The US said a waiver on halting some activities in South Africa under the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR, will focus on “life-saving” treatments. These will include HIV care and treatment services such as testing for the disease, counseling prevention, the treatment of opportunistic infections related to HIV and procurement of medicine, the US Embassy to South Africa said in a statement on Monday. (Sguazzin, 2/10)
More health news about the Trump administration —
The Washington Post:
Trump Expected To Order A Crackdown On D.C. Crime, Homeless Encampments
Details of the executive order may shift, but early drafts have included language that would order homeless encampments cleared, direct prosecutors to pursue tougher penalties for gun violence as well as petty crime such as public urination, and revive one of President Trump’s 2020 executive orders to protect national monuments, the people said. The order is also expected to focus broadly on federal parks controlled by the National Park Service. (Hsu and Davies, 2/10)
Stat:
RFK Jr. Vaccine Safety Moves Could Involve Long-Defunct Task Force
Almost 40 years ago, Congress created a task force to recommend ways to make childhood vaccines safer. The group — made up of officials from key U.S. public health agencies — issued its final report in 1998, and has been defunct ever since. In the years since, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s allies have zeroed in on the panel to misrepresent the steps the government has taken to ensure the safety of vaccines given to babies and kids. Now, as RFK Jr. prepares to take the top health role in the Trump administration, reviving the task force could be one way to quickly stand up a panel to scrutinize immunizations — and commitments made following his confirmation hearings indicate this may be part of his plan. (Owermohle and Zhang, 2/11)
Modern Healthcare:
The Medicare Advantage Policies That Insurers Want Trump To Relax
Medicare Advantage insurers are taking their first stab at getting the Trump administration to chart a new, more lightly regulated path for the program. In comments on the Medicare Advantage and Part D policy proposed rule for 2026, health insurance trade associations call on the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to make a slew of changes in the final rule, such as scrapping Medicare and Medicaid coverage of obesity drugs, extending a Medicare Advantage payment model the industry favors, and eliminating a health equity payment adjustment. (Early, 2/10)
