Latest news with #EmergencyPlanForAIDSRelief
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Asks Congress To Rescind Funding For Public Broadcasting, Foreign Aid
President Donald Trump asked Congress on Tuesday to rescind more than $9 billion in funding it already approved for public broadcasters, foreign aid and global health efforts, taking aim at those initiatives as 'wasteful' and 'woke.' The requested cuts are part of a process known as rescission, in which the president can ask Congress to remove funding commitments from the budget. 'They have 45 days to codify these massive cuts to woke, wasteful, and weaponized spending via a simple majority vote,' the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement. The single biggest cut Trump is requesting is a $1.1 billion funding commitment to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS. Leaders of both news outlets said the rescission would strip Americans of vital sources of information while cutting very little in costs. 'This rescission would have a negligible impact on reducing the deficit and provide little-to-no savings for taxpayers, yet it would harm all Americans, shutting off access to local news, national reporting, music and regional culture, and emergency alerting,' NPR's CEO Katherine Maher said in a lengthy statement. NPR is responsible for receiving and distributing 'Presidential-level emergency alerts' within minutes, she noted. 'Rescission would irreparably harm communities across America who count on public media for 24/7 news, music, cultural and educational programming, and emergency alerting services,' she said, noting that private media companies have not been willing to take on those commitments. Paula Kerger, the president and CEO of PBS, raised similar concerns, saying the impacts will especially be felt at 'smaller and rural stations that rely on federal funding for a larger portion of their budgets.' The proposed funding removals would write into law some of the cuts initiated by Elon Musk when he was running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which he stepped down from last week. Other requested cuts include millions to the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, orPEPFAR, a Bush-era program credited with saving 25 million lives. Rep. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters she wouldn't support any reductions to PEPFAR, calling it 'possibly the most successful public health program that has ever been used in Africa and other parts of the world.' Skepticism from more Republicans could spell trouble for the rescission package given the GOP's slim majority in the Senate. But Trump's staff is already preparing to ask for more cuts. 'If they pass this, we'll send up many more,' White House budget director Russ Vought said on Fox News, referring to rescission packages.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trump Asks Congress To Rescind Funding For Public Broadcasting, Foreign Aid
President Donald Trump asked Congress on Tuesday to rescind more than $9 billion in funding it already approved for public broadcasters, foreign aid and global health efforts, taking aim at those initiatives as 'wasteful' and 'woke.' The requested cuts are part of a process known as rescission, in which the president can ask Congress to remove funding commitments from the budget. 'They have 45 days to codify these massive cuts to woke, wasteful, and weaponized spending via a simple majority vote,' the White House Office of Management and Budget said in a statement. The single biggest cut Trump is requesting is a $1.1 billion funding commitment to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, which funds NPR and PBS. Leaders of both news outlets said the rescission would strip Americans of vital sources of information while cutting very little in costs. 'This rescission would have a negligible impact on reducing the deficit and provide little-to-no savings for taxpayers, yet it would harm all Americans, shutting off access to local news, national reporting, music and regional culture, and emergency alerting,' NPR's CEO Katherine Maher said in a lengthy statement. NPR is responsible for receiving and distributing 'Presidential-level emergency alerts' within minutes, she noted. 'Rescission would irreparably harm communities across America who count on public media for 24/7 news, music, cultural and educational programming, and emergency alerting services,' she said, noting that private media companies have not been willing to take on those commitments. Paula Kerger, the president and CEO of PBS, raised similar concerns, saying the impacts will especially be felt at 'smaller and rural stations that rely on federal funding for a larger portion of their budgets.' The proposed funding removals would write into law some of the cuts initiated by Elon Musk when he was running the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, which he stepped down from last week. Other requested cuts include millions to the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, orPEPFAR, a Bush-era program credited with saving 25 million lives. Rep. Susan Collins (R-Maine) told reporters she wouldn't support any reductions to PEPFAR, calling it 'possibly the most successful public health program that has ever been used in Africa and other parts of the world.' Skepticism from more Republicans could spell trouble for the rescission package given the GOP's slim majority in the Senate. But Trump's staff is already preparing to ask for more cuts. 'If they pass this, we'll send up many more,' White House budget director Russ Vought said on Fox News, referring to rescission packages.
New York Times
08-04-2025
- Health
- New York Times
Who Will Care for Infants With H.I.V. Overseas?
The Trump administration has dismissed the few remaining health officials who oversaw care for some of the world's most vulnerable people: more than 500,000 children and more than 600,000 pregnant women with H.I.V. in low-income countries. Expert teams that managed programs meant to prevent newborns from acquiring H.I.V. from their mothers and to provide treatment for infected children were eliminated last week in the chaotic reorganization of the Health and Human Services Department. Some of the consequences of the dismissals are only now coming to light. While it was known that some staff members devoted to H.I.V. prevention in other countries had been lost, The New York Times has learned that all such experts have now been terminated or are awaiting reassignment at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the State Department and the U.S. Agency for International Development. These maternal health programs are still funded by the President's Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR. But without personnel to manage the initiatives or to disburse the money, it's not clear how the work will continue. The Health and Human Services Department did not respond to a request for comment. 'We hope this is not a sign that treating mothers and children is no longer important in PEPFAR, and that this is a mistake that can be corrected,' said a federal health official who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. The stakes are high. Already in sub-Saharan Africa, a child under 15 dies of AIDS every seven minutes. On Tuesday, a study in The Lancet estimated that suspending PEPFAR could lead to about one million new H.I.V. infections by 2030 and could lead to nearly 500,000 AIDS deaths among children and the orphaning of 2.8 million more. After the nascent Trump administration froze all foreign aid, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a waiver permitting delivery of 'core lifesaving medicine, medical services' and other activities funded by the United States. A waiver specific to PEPFAR later explicitly continued support for programs meant to prevent mother-to-child transmission of H.I.V., and to provide treatment of infected women and children. The paperwork allowing the aid to resume took weeks after the waiver was issued, and several organizations are only just beginning to receive federal funds required to run the programs. 'You can dismantle something very quickly, but now you're trying to build it back up with a fraction of the staff and potentially 5 percent of the institutional knowledge,' said a federal official who wasn't authorized to speak to the news media and requested anonymity. All experts in pediatric H.I.V. were all let go in the gutting of U.S.A.I.D., leaving a single unit at the C.D.C. with the expertise to advise overseas programs. That team was lost in last week's reorganization, along with another that handles disbursement of funds for 300 grants in more than 40 countries. Given the State Department waiver, those layoffs came as surprise to the federal health workers and to the organizations that rely on them. 'We clearly understood that H.I.V. services for mothers and children would fall under' the waiver, said Dr. Anja Giphart, executive vice president of medical and scientific affairs at the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. The foundation depends on the C.D.C. for about 60 percent of its budget. 'We were totally blindsided that the whole unit at C.D.C. is being terminated,' she said. The organization has been promised funds until September. But only a few people were authorized to use the payment system at the C.D.C. 'Everyone is scrambling now to figure out how to pay country teams and partners,' said a C.D.C. official who requested anonymity for fear of retaliation. Other experts said that they were not surprised by the hollowing out of the C.D.C.'s H.I.V. teams despite the waiver. 'What we've seen is that there's no rhyme and reason to any of the actions that the administration is taking,' said Jirair Ratevosian, who served as the chief of staff for PEPFAR in the Biden administration. Care for children and pregnant women with H.I.V. is complex. Infants need an H.I.V. test different from the one used for adults, and infected babies must take a separate set of medications. They succumb quickly to complications when treatment is interrupted. 'Especially when you think about children, time is of the essence,' Dr. Giphart said. 'That seems to not really be taken into consideration with all these changes that are being made.' In low-income countries, pregnant women with H.I.V. usually get treatment at prenatal clinics. Without treatment, one in three pregnant women may pass H.I.V. on to her baby. Treatment decreases the risk of transmission to less than 1 percent. PEPFAR has prevented nearly eight million such infections in newborns since its inception, in 2003. The foreign aid freeze imposed in January has resulted in shortages of pediatric H.I.V. drugs in many countries and the delayed delivery of a new H.I.V. drug treatment. The C.D.C. experts who were let go had been helping low-income countries prepare for this transition, tracking stocks and helping to direct the medications to the places with the most urgent needs, said an official who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation. 'This coordination is especially critical right now because we're in a period of immense change,' the official said.
