Policy

​A fight over an embattled drug discount program is intensifying on Capitol Hill, as lawmakers weigh competing proposals to reshape the program amid escalating tensions between hospitals and drugmakers. Lawmakers in both chambers have rolled out, or are planning to soon introduce, fresh proposals to alter the 340B program, which requires drug manufacturers sell deeply […]

The number of former servicemembers enrolled in the Department of Veterans Affairs system who have had traumatic brain injuries spiked considerably in the last four years on record, new data from the department shows. The figures, which were posted on the VA website last week, demonstrate that the number of reported TBI instances in the […]

The Trump administration will not renew direct federal funding of community-based organizations that work on HIV prevention, according to multiple groups impacted by the freeze. The move is the latest step in the administration’s push to eliminate funding for DEI-focused initiatives that help the LGBTQ community. But this one directly contradicts the White House’s push […]

Opposition is building to a sweeping government-wide crackdown on federal grant awards, with opponents threatening litigation over a proposed rule that would put the grant approval process into the hands of political appointees. A request for public comment on the rule by the Office of Management and Budget triggered almost half a million responses, most […]

The Trump administration terminated dozens of health research grants this week, telling grantees it is shifting priorities to issues like the “overmedication of children” and autism, according to a prominent research organization. The cuts hit projects at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, many of them multiyear awards that had already been indefinitely delayed. At least 67 […]

The House Budget Committee approved a fiscal 2027 budget resolution Thursday as the first step toward passing a filibuster-proof reconciliation bill to provide tens of billions of dollars for defense, farm aid and voting restrictions. The panel advanced the GOP-backed budget resolution on a strictly party-line vote of 20-14 after rejecting 14 amendments, all offered […]

As Congress considers competing House and Senate proposals meant to protect kids online, lawmakers have only to look to their states to understand the challenges in seeking to regulate kids’ social media usage without running afoul of the First Amendment.  States have already tried some of the same strategies Congress is considering, only to see those […]

The Trump administration is moving ahead with plans to allow for more consolidation in local television, a move that got pushback from Senate Commerce Chairman Ted Cruz over the role of Congress in changing the television ownership cap. Federal Communications Commission Chair Brendan Carr announced plans Wednesday to vote to repeal the national broadcast ownership […]

President Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on Wednesday attempted to demonstrate that she can restore trust in the agency, during a Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee confirmation hearing. The issue of vaccines took center stage during the hearing for Erica Schwartz, who sought to assure senators that she […]

​A bipartisan pair of House members are introducing legislation aimed at treating millions of Americans of a deadly-but-curable liver disease, the culmination of a yearslong push from public health advocates. The bill, sponsored by Reps. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa and Diana DeGette, D-Colo., would create a national hepatitis C elimination program to expand testing and treatment especially for […]