Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
White House Unveils 13 Cancer Moonshot Initiatives
Axios: White House Announces New Cancer Initiatives On Moonshot Anniversary
Families with kids fighting cancer in the U.S. will soon have clinical and patient navigation support to help them find optimal care, connecting with research trials and more portable, shareable health records under a partnership being launched by the National Cancer Institute. (Reed, 2/2)
Fierce Healthcare: White House Unveils New Cancer Programs On Moonshot Anniversary
On the anniversary of the revived Cancer Moonshot, the Biden administration unveiled partnerships directed at cancer care and prevention such as providing clinical and patient navigation support to families facing childhood cancer and boosting access to screenings and early detection. The 13 initiatives announced Thursday are part of the White House's overarching effort to reduce cancer death rates and improve the experience for families surviving cancer. (Landi, 2/2)
Bill Clinton visits the White House on the anniversary of FMLA —
The Hill: Bill Clinton Joins Biden, Harris To Mark 30th Anniversary Of Family And Medical Leave Act
The Biden administration on Thursday marked the 30th anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) by urging expansion of the provisions guaranteed by the law and inviting former President Clinton, who signed it in 1993, to speak at the White House. President Biden was also joined by Vice President Harris to commemorate the signing of the FMLA in the White House’s East Room. The law requires certain employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid leave if employees are sick, have a new child in their household or are taking care of a sick family member, without the risk of the staffer losing their job. Biden on Thursday issued a memorandum calling on the heads of federal agencies to “support access to leave without pay for Federal employees” so that they can bond with new children or take care of their own health or the health of their family members. (Choi, 2/2)
AP: Bill Clinton Back At White House To Push Paid Family Leave
Three decades after Bill Clinton signed the nation’s family and medical leave law, he was back at the White House on Thursday to hold forth on what it’s meant to the country, unspooling his trademark blend of storytelling and wonkiness. The 42nd president, now more than two decades out of office, seemed a little rusty at first, fumbling through the papers on the lectern to find his remarks. But then he found his stride and was soon dropping names, citing statistics and spinning yarns about the families whose lives have been affected by the law. ... Clinton spoke just days before Sunday’s 30th anniversary of his landmark Family and Medical Leave Act legislation and made the case for Congress to get behind President Joe Biden’s push to go further and get paid leave etched into federal law. (Madhani and Superville, 2/2)
More migrant children have been reunited with their parents —
The Hill: Biden Task Force Unites More Than 600 Migrant Children With Parents
The Biden administration has united more than 600 children who were separated from their families under former President Trump’s “zero tolerance” policy, officials announced Thursday. Thursday marked the two-year anniversary of Biden’s Family Reunification Task Force that he established to reunite children with their families who were separated under the previous administration. The task force, which is housed under the Department of Homeland Security, said nearly 1,000 children still remain separated from their families, according to a press release. (Sforza, 2/2)
Reuters: Close To 1,000 Migrant Children Separated By Trump Yet To Be Reunited With Parents
Nearly 1,000 migrant children separated at the U.S.-Mexico border by the administration of former President Donald Trump have yet to be reunited with their parents despite a two-year effort by President Joe Biden. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Thursday of the 998 children still separated, 148 were in the process of reunification. ... DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters on Thursday that there was still work to be done to fully address wounds inflicted by the policy. "That's what informs our efforts to extend behavioral health services as a component of reunification," he said. (Hesson, 2/2)
The Wall Street Journal: Nearly 1,000 Migrant Children Separated From Parents At Border Haven’t Been Reunited, Data Shows
Under the family-separation policy that former President Donald Trump implemented and later revoked in 2018, parents and children crossing the border illegally were put on separate immigration tracks as though they weren’t related, a shift from past policy that kept family cases together. Children are given greater legal protections under immigration law, so while the adults’ asylum cases could be dismissed quickly, allowing them to be deported, children mostly remained in the U.S. in child welfare shelters or with relatives. Children continued to be separated after the end of the policy and a court order for reunifications, according to officials at the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general, typically because of concerns over a traveling parent’s criminal history raised by DHS. (Ansari, 2/2)
