Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Administration Ends Nearly All USAID Programs
NPR: Nearly All USAID Programs Have Been Cut By The Trump Administration
The Trump administration is terminating thousands of USAID foreign assistance grants and awards, according to the State Department. The move effectively guts the six-decade-old agency. Elisha Dunn-Georgiou, president and CEO of the Global Health Council, said the situation is "horrible." She said that even some of the programs that had received waivers for being "life saving humanitarian assistance" – including ones that provided HIV medications – have now received termination notices. (Tanis and Langfitt, 2/26)
Politico: Chief Justice Allows Trump Administration To Keep Foreign Aid Frozen For Now
Chief Justice John Roberts on Wednesday night granted a respite to the Trump administration as it seeks to keep billions of dollars in foreign aid frozen, despite a judge’s order directing the administration to resume payments immediately. Roberts’ intervention heads off the possibility of administration officials being held in contempt for failing to comply with the order from U.S. District Judge Amir Ali, who imposed a deadline of 11:59 p.m. Wednesday for the federal government to pay nearly $2 billion in unpaid invoices from foreign-aid contractors. (Gerstein and Cheney, 2/26)
The Washington Post: Musk Claims DOGE ‘Restored’ Ebola Prevention Effort. Officials Disagree.
Elon Musk on Wednesday acknowledged that the U.S. DOGE Service “accidentally canceled” efforts by the U.S. Agency for International Development to prevent the spread of Ebola — but the billionaire entrepreneur insisted that the initiative was quickly restored. “When we make a mistake, we’ll fix it very quickly,” Musk said at a meeting of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet officials. “So we restored the Ebola prevention immediately. And there was no interruption.” Yet current and former USAID officials said that Musk was wrong: USAID’s Ebola prevention efforts have been largely halted since Musk and his DOGE allies moved last month to gut the global-assistance agency and freeze its outgoing payments, they said. (Diamond and Hudson, 1/26)
On NIH funding —
NPR: NIH Partially Lifts Freeze On Funding Process For Medical Research
The Trump administration has partially lifted a hold that had frozen ability of the National Institutes of Health to review new grant applications for research into diseases ranging from heart disease and COVID to Alzheimer's and allergies. The freeze occurred because the Trump administration had blocked the NIH from posting any new notices in the Federal Register, which is required before many federal meetings can be held. The stoppage forced the agency to cancel meetings to review thousands of grant applications. (Stein, 2/26)
Stat: Trump NIH Indirect Costs: Why Foundations Pay Less For Overhead
One of the key justifications the Trump administration has offered for its bombshell proposal to sharply cut what the National Institutes of Health pays research grant recipients for overhead costs is that most private organizations place similar restrictions on funding for what’s known as indirect costs. (Oza, 2/27)
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On VA funding —
The Hill: VA Reverses Course, Halts Contract Cancellations After Pressure From Congress
The Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) on Wednesday paused an effort to terminate hundreds of contracts after pressure from Democrat lawmakers, according to Senate Veterans’ Affairs Committee ranking member Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.). The major reversal, which came a day after VA Secretary Doug Collins publicly touted the cancellation of up to 875 contracts in a video posted to social media, was relayed in an email to agency staff. (Mitchell, 2/26)
Military.Com: VA Research On Cancer, Suicide Prevention, Toxic Exposure At Risk From Federal Hiring Freeze
Hundreds of Department of Veterans Affairs medical research projects are being threatened by a hiring freeze across the federal government, a pair of top Democratic senators warned in a letter to the department this week. About 200 research personnel could be cut and an estimated 370 studies and clinical trials could be canceled or suspended in the next 90 days if the freeze isn't lifted, the senators said, "directly impacting up to 10,000 veterans currently participating in research studies." (Kheel, 2/26)
On climate change —
Politico: EPA Moves To Ditch Finding That Greenhouse Gases Cause Harm
The Environmental Protection Agency will move to reverse its 2009 declaration that greenhouse gases endanger human health and welfare — a step that would threaten most major climate regulations and make it harder for future presidents to enact new ones. Three people granted anonymity to discuss the action said EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin has recommended to the White House that the agency overhaul the finding, which underpins all Clean Air Act climate regulations. (Chemnick, Colman, Guillén and Cama, 2/26)
