Latest news with #Sebelius
Yahoo
27-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius worries over ‘devastating' cuts to research funding
Former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is concerned about the Trump administration's recent cuts to research grants through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 'I'm worried on a lot of fronts,' Sebelius said during The Hill's 'Health Next Summit.' 'The kinds of cuts that were just announced are devastating and will set science back and set research back.' The Trump administration and billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency have eliminated whole agencies and made sweeping cuts to others over the past two months, including to NIH. Recently, the Trump administration announced it would cancel all NIH grants on equity issues, which include work studying HIV and black maternal health. The administration also recently issued a 15 percent cap on indirect costs of NIH grants. Indirect funding in NIH grants is used to cover overhead and administrative costs at universities and other research institutions. A federal judge recently ordered the NIH to stop its plans to cut its grant funding amount to universities, hospitals and other institutions following a number of lawsuits from state Democratic attorneys general and the Association of American Medical Colleges. Still, many in the scientific community are concerned. Academics, health care workers and scientists have all opposed the cuts, arguing that they will harm Americans in many ways including by pausing lifesaving and life-sustaining research on diseases like cancer. Sebelius said that in her home state of Kansas, both Kansas State University and the University of Kansas have started losing millions of dollars 'on the health side' and in research. 'That has a decades-long impact,' she said. Sebelius said the cuts also threaten to erase the U.S.'s standing as the leader and gold standard of research. She noted that China is 'eager' to take the U.S.'s place as the world's leader of scientific research if given the opportunity. 'They will gladly step into any vacuum we create,' she said. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Hill
27-03-2025
- Health
- The Hill
Former HHS secretary Kathleen Sebelius worries over ‘devastating' cuts to research funding
Former Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is concerned about the Trump administration's recent cuts to research grants through the National Institutes of Health (NIH). 'I'm worried on a lot of fronts,' Sebelius said during The Hill's Health Next Summit. 'The kinds of cuts that were just announced are devastating and will set science back and set research back.' The Trump administration and their billionaire Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency have eliminated whole agencies and made sweeping cuts to others over the past two months, including to NIH. Recently, the Trump administration announced it would cancel all NIH grants on equity issues, which includes work studying HIV and black maternal health. The administration also recently issued a 15 percent cap on indirect cost cap on NIH grants. Indirect funding in NIH grants is used to cover overhead and administrative costs at universities and other research institutions. A federal judge recently ordered the NIH to stop its plans to cut its grant funding amount to universities, hospitals and other institutions following a number of lawsuits from state Democratic attorneys general and the Association of American Medical Colleges. Still, many in the scientific community are concerned. Academics, health care workers and scientists have all opposed the cuts, arguing that they will harm Americans in many ways including by pausing lifesaving and life-sustaining research on diseases like cancer. Sebelius said that in her home state of Kansas, both Kansas State University and the University of Kansas have started losing millions of dollars 'on the health side' and in research. 'That has a decades-long impact,' she said. Sebelius said the cuts also threaten to erase the U.S.'s standing as the leader and gold standard of research. She noted that China is 'eager' to take the U.S.'s place as the world's leader of scientific research if given the opportunity. 'They will gladly step into any vacuum we create,' she said.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Former HHS Secretary Reacts To RFK Jr.'s Confirmation Hearing: 'Very, Very Dangerous'
A former secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday suggested that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been nominated for 'the wrong Cabinet post' after how President Donald Trump's pick for her old job performed in his confirmation hearing. 'He doesn't understand this Cabinet post very well and the positions that he has are terrifying,' said Kathleen Sebelius in an interview with MSNBC host Joy Reid. Sebelius, who served under Barack Obama and oversaw the Affordable Care Act's implementation, has previously called Kennedy's history of peddling false claims about vaccines 'totally disqualifying for anyone' seeking the post and warned that his possible HHS leadership is a matter of 'life or death.' On Wednesday, she told Reid that Kennedy demonstrated that 'he has very strong opinions about a lot things he knows very little about' in the hearing. 'That doesn't stop him from announcing him opinions as fact. It doesn't stop him from making recommendations that are widely disputed by scientific evidence,' Sebelius said. She continued, 'And that makes him very, very dangerous in the position as the major health minister of the United States.' Kennedy made false statements to senators on Wednesday including those related to Medicaid as well as Medicare and was pressed over anti-vaccine clothing sold by an organization he started. Sebelius declared that Kennedy has made 'his fame and his fortune on being a vaccine denier' by repeatedly saying there's no 'safe and effective vaccine.' She added that while Kennedy has withdrawn his name from his old organization, Children's Health Defense, it's suing vaccine makers and he's making referral fees from those lawsuits. She went on to warn of a growing number of adults who are questioning and withholding vaccines from their children which could subject people to diseases that have 'long' been abolished in America. 'So this is not just about individual parents making individual choices, it's about us as society looking at potential new cases of polio, potential new cases of whooping cough, disease, measles outbreaks that we haven't seen in a very long time,' Sebelius said. She continued, 'Largely due to, I think, misinformation, disinformation promoted by his organization since 2016.' Later in the interview, Sebelius slammed Kennedy for not answering 'basic' questions about Medicare and Medicaid, knocked his understanding of the ACA and questioned his focus on food/food supplements while pushing for the HHS post. Bernie Sanders Grills RFK Jr. On 'Unvaxxed, Unafraid' Baby Onesies RFK Jr. Says Trump Gave Him 1 Directive On The Abortion Pill JFK's Grandson Trolls RFK Jr.'s Hearing As The Family Feud Heats Up
