Foreign-aid cuts back in the spotlight

Politico

6 days ago

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Driving The Day
REPORT WARNS OF SETBACKS — Human rights nonprofit Amnesty International called on lawmakers today not to codify the Trump administration's foreign-assistance cuts through rescission. The White House plans to send a so-called rescissions bill to Congress next week.
Amnesty's call was part of a report it released today outlining the impact of U.S. foreign-aid cuts in a dozen countries, including Guatemala, South Sudan and Yemen.
Nonprofit and public health experts in Guatemala are concerned that people with HIV will lose access to HIV drugs and prevention services for marginalized groups.
The report says that aid workers in Yemen 'described to Amnesty International how President Donald Trump's decision to cut US aid funding has led to the shut-down of lifesaving assistance and protection services, including malnutrition treatment to children, pregnant and breastfeeding mothers, safe shelters to survivors of gender-based violence, and healthcare to children suffering from cholera and other illnesses.'
And in South Sudan, rehabilitation services for conflict victims and emergency nutritional support for children are among the health services that have been interrupted or stopped, according to the report.
Why it matters: The report comes amid continued uncertainty about how the Trump administration plans to spend foreign-aid money Congress has appropriated for this fiscal year.
The top Democratic appropriators in the House and the Senate accused the White House on Wednesday of failing to provide the required detailed information about what the administration is doing with billions of dollars of spending already approved by Congress.
Meanwhile, two top Democrats in the House Foreign Affairs Committee asked the Government Accountability Office on Wednesday to assess the costs of the foreign-aid cuts and of the dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development.
In a letter to Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, head of GAO, Rep. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), the panel's top Democrat, and Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-Calif.) asked the agency to examine the costs and the savings of the award cancellations and the extent to which the State Department retains the capacity and workforce 'to oversee the contracts, grants, or agreements for remaining foreign aid programs.'
Secretary of State Marco Rubio last week pushed back on Democratic senators' claims that global health and food-assistance cuts have killed hundreds of thousands of children in the world's poorest countries.
Rubio said some canceled programs didn't align with the administration's 'America First' foreign policy.
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AROUND THE AGENCIES
BIRD FLU VAX FUNDS HALTED — HHS is canceling $590 million in funds awarded to Moderna to help the drugmaker develop vaccines against potential pandemic flu viruses, including bird flu, the company said Wednesday, POLITICO's David Lim reports.
The administration's decision was announced on the same day the vaccine maker said it had 'positive interim data' from an early-stage clinical trial evaluating a bird flu shot. The money had been awarded shortly before former President Joe Biden left office.
Moderna said HHS notified the company Wednesday that it was canceling both funding, which would have helped accelerate the shot's late-stage development, and purchase rights for its pre-pandemic flu vaccines.
'While the termination of funding from HHS adds uncertainty, we are pleased by the robust immune response and safety profile observed in this interim analysis of the Phase 1/2 study of our H5 avian flu vaccine and we will explore alternative paths forward for the program,' Moderna CEO Stéphane Bancel said in a press release.
HHS spokesperson Andrew Nixon said the Trump administration won't spend taxpayer dollars 'repeating the mistakes of the last administration,' describing mRNA vaccine technology as 'undertested.'
'After a rigorous review, we concluded that continued investment in Moderna's H5N1 mRNA vaccine was not scientifically or ethically justifiable,' Nixon said in an email.
Why it matters: Seventy confirmed human avian flu infections tied to a widespread outbreak of the virus in poultry and dairy cows have been documented in the U.S. since 2024, according to CDC data. The agency says the current public health risk is low.
HHS: FOLLOW GENDER-AFFIRMING CARE REPORT — HHS is urging health care providers to read a recently released report that found little evidence in support of gender-affirming care and adjust their practices accordingly.
'Given your 'obligation to avoid serious harm' and the findings of the review, HHS expects you promptly to make the necessary updates to your treatment protocols,' reads a publicly posted letter addressed to providers, health care risk managers and state medical boards and signed by HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
While the letter didn't disclose whether any consequences would be imposed for noncompliance, it said HHS 'may soon undertake new policies and oversight actions … to ensure the protection of children, and to hold providers that harm children accountable.'
CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz followed up with a similar letter to 'select hospitals performing pediatric sex trait modification procedures' Wednesday, demanding answers within 30 days about their planned policy changes, their billing codes for such procedures and their projected revenues.
The letters come after the Trump administration released a report on May 1 about gender dysphoria in adolescents, which found insufficient evidence to support 'any intervention' of gender-affirming care.
The review also found little evidence of harms associated with 'pediatric medical transitions.'
The review aligns with the administration's goals of abolishing gender-affirming care for minors and an executive order the president signed in January, aimed at cutting federal funding for providers that offer such care to minors. However, multiple states have sued regarding the order, and federal judges have blocked its implementation.
The American Medical Association, the largest organization representing providers, updated its policy in 2024 to support coverage of gender-affirming care.
In the courts
STATES SUE SCIENCE FOUNDATION — NEW YORK — Sixteen state attorneys general, led by New York Attorney General Letitia James, are suing a federal agency for slashing funding for health research infrastructure and cutting diversity-related projects, POLITICO's Maya Kaufman reports.
Details: The case, filed Wednesday in the Southern District of New York, alleges that policy changes by the National Science Foundation, which supports science and engineering research, violate the Administrative Procedure Act and the U.S. Constitution.
A group of private universities had previously sued the foundation over the agency's policy capping funds for indirect research costs at a rate of 15 percent.
'Every time we go online, scan a barcode at checkout, or get an MRI, we use technology made possible by the National Science Foundation,' James said in a statement. 'This administration's attacks on basic science and essential efforts to ensure diversity in STEM will weaken our economy and our national security.'
NSF declined to comment to POLITICO but shared a link to a webpage with updated guidance on its priorities.
What's next? The coalition of states seeks a court order ruling that the foundation's policies are illegal and blocking implementation of the policies.
Global Health
WHO COVID WARNING — A new Covid-19 variant is circulating in the eastern Mediterranean, Southeast Asian and Western Pacific regions as global rates of the virus rise, the World Health Organization said Wednesday.
Since mid-February, Covid-test positivity rates have increased globally, the organization said, reaching a peak on May 11 similar to that in July 2024, mainly driven by cases in regions most impacted by the new variant.
The WHO said that publicly available wastewater data from European countries and North America shows cases remain low as of mid-May. The CDC's surveillance data also shows that case counts remain low, and the new variant, N.B.1.8.1, isn't listed as driving cases.
The emerging variant comes as HHS says it will no longer recommend routine Covid vaccination for 'healthy' children and pregnant women.
Names in the News
Andy Slavitt will be co-chair of the Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network Executive Forum. Slavitt was acting CMS administrator during the Obama administration and a senior adviser on the Biden White House's Covid response team.
314 Action has hired Bri Gillis to be a federal and statewide campaign adviser. Gillis previously was political director for the Immigrant Justice Fund at the National Immigration Law Center. 314 has also hired Eden Giagnorio, formerly communications director for the Florida Democratic Party, as communications director and Tara Saye, who previously worked on Sen. Tim Kaine's (D-Va.) campaign, as deputy development director.
WHAT WE'RE READING
POLITICO's Kyle Cheney and Doug Palmer report that a federal court has struck down the Trump administration's April 2 tariffs.
POLITICO's Katelyn Cordero and Maya Kaufman report a New York deal to expand birth control access.