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Politico
31-01-2025
- Health
- Politico
The pressure is on Cassidy
Presented by The Pharmaceutical Reform Alliance With Daniel Payne Driving The Day THE 'KEY' TO KENNEDY'S CONFIRMATION — President Donald Trump's nominee to lead HHS spent two days in confirmation hearings this week to convince senators to vote in his favor, and now all eyes are on one Republican who could be the deciding vote: Louisiana Sen. Bill Cassidy. 'Cassidy is the key to this,' one person working to defeat Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s nomination to lead HHS, granted anonymity to speak freely, told our Adam Cancryn. Cassidy, a gastroenterologist who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, gave Kennedy numerous chances on Thursday to disavow his prior claims that vaccines cause autism, I report with Daniel and Lauren Gardner. Kennedy repeatedly declined and instead said if he were shown data proving that vaccines don't cause autism, he'd 'absolutely' agree and 'apologize for any statement that misled people.' Nearing the end of the hearing, Cassidy returned to the question, reading the title of a study that found no link between vaccines and autism. Cassidy seemed to plead with Kennedy to renounce his past claims: 'Convince me,' Cassidy said. But Kennedy declined. 'You and I can meet about it,' he said — adding that he would bring his own studies, some of which show 'the opposite.' Cassidy concluded the hearing by saying, 'I've got to figure that out for my vote' and telling Kennedy he may reach out to him over the weekend. 'It's not that often you see that kind of anguish on the part of a member of Congress,' the Kennedy opponent told Adam. Why it matters: Cassidy sits on the Senate Finance Committee, which will vote to decide whether Kennedy's nomination goes to the Senate floor. Some of Cassidy's Republican colleagues appeared to go to bat for Kennedy during the hearing in efforts to convince Cassidy to support him. Kentucky Republican Rand Paul argued that, in some cases, government guidance on vaccination was debatable, citing the recommendation that all infants receive the hepatitis B vaccine and that children and healthy, young people get Covid-19 shots. 'You're not going to let [Kennedy] have the debate because you're just going to criticize and say, 'It is this, and admit to it or we're not going to appoint you.'' Calley Means, a Kennedy ally, posted on X about Paul's 'impassioned plea' to Cassidy, 'a man I know cares deeply about public health and American patients.' 'We are at a GENERATIONAL fork in the road to RESTORE TRUST in science. That is the promise of MAHA,' Means said. Dr. Robert Redfield, former CDC director during the first Trump administration, sent a letter to Finance Committee Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), urging a vote in support of Kennedy. 'Kennedy has criticized me in the past, as I am a strong advocate for vaccines,' Redfield wrote. 'But I also believe Kennedy is not anti-vaccine. He wants transparency in the development of vaccines and honest discussion of the data to show safety and efficacy.' WELCOME TO FRIDAY PULSE. And just like that … this long, long month of January is finally (almost) over. Send your tips, scoops and feedback to ccirruzzo@ and follow along @ChelseaCirruzzo. In Congress FIRST IN PULSE: DOC PAY FIX COMES TOGETHER — A bipartisan group of House members is offering a plan to fix the Medicare pay cut to doctors that went into effect this year after Congress declined to stop it, Daniel reports. The plan would effectively boost pay to eliminate the cut by 6.62 percent for the rest of the year— and provide extra payment to address inflation and offset the deficit from the cut in the first part of the year. Rep. Greg Murphy (R-N.C.), a urologist, plans to introduce the bill with a group of bipartisan lawmakers, several of them also doctors. Though the plan is set to be introduced as legislation today, its provisions will likely be pushed by the lawmakers for a must-pass government funding package in March. Why it matters: Mitigating Medicare pay cuts is a top priority for health providers, especially those struggling financially. Medicare pay to doctors decreased by 2.8 percent beginning in January, and the government estimates that the cost of practicing medicine will rise by 3.6 percent this year. The proposal's bipartisan backing also comes as Democratic clinicians in Congress consider how they might organize to advance shared goals. Planning to introduce the bill with Murphy are Jimmy Panetta (D-Calif.), John Joyce (R-Pa.), Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), Mariannette Miller-Meeks (R-Iowa), Kim Schrier (D-Wash.), Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), Ami Bera (D-Calif.), Carol Miller ( and Raja Krishnamoorthi (D-Ill.). ANTI-ABORTION GROUPS ACCEPT KENNEDY — After two days of hearings, many anti-abortion groups feel confident that HHS secretary nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — former Democrat and one-time abortion-rights supporter — will carry out their agenda, POLITICO's Alice Miranda Ollstein reports. Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America said Thursday they're 'encouraged' by promises Kennedy made to hire anti-abortion staff at HHS, scrutinize regulations around abortion pills, halt support for medical research using fetal tissue and cut funding to organizations that provide or refer for the procedure. Democratic senators' attempt to sway their GOP colleagues against Kennedy by citing his past comments supporting abortion access and opposing government restrictions doesn't appear to have been successful. Another anti-abortion group, the Human Coalition, said after the Thursday Senate HELP hearing that they are 'ready to work' with Kennedy 'to protect innocent children in the womb.' One conservative group — Advancing American Freedom, co-founded by former Vice President Mike Pence — is urging senators to vote no on Kennedy over his abortion record. 'CLEAR AS MUD' — HHS nominee Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says he has given away his rights to gain from a lawsuit challenging the HPV vaccine, but one senator and some ethics experts aren't buying it, Lauren reports. Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) questioned Kennedy on Thursday about a line in his ethics form stating that he's 'entitled to receive 10 percent of fees awarded in contingency fee cases referred to' Wisner Baum, the personal injury law firm leading litigation against Merck, the drugmaker behind the HPV vaccine Gardasil. Kennedy has profited from a consulting deal with the firm. Kennedy told the panel that he's 'given away all of my rights to any fees in that lawsuit.' But ethics experts questioned his assertion after reviewing language in his agreement pertaining to his business relationship with Wisner Baum. 'This section of the ethics agreement is clear as mud,' said Kathleen Clark, a law professor and ethics expert at Washington University in St. Louis. In the agreement, Kennedy pledged to divest his interest in payments from Wisner Baum involving claims against the U.S. — including cases filed at the federal vaccine court that's the first venue for cases claiming injuries from childhood vaccines like Gardasil. But he also said he would 'irrevocably assign my right to receive payment in all contingency fee cases in which the United States is a party or has a direct and substantial interest to a non-dependent, adult family member' before taking office. Kennedy spokesperson Katie Miller said the nominee 'personally isn't retaining the fees' linked to the Gardasil lawsuits. Kennedy's agreement also says he can receive a fee in cases that the HHS ethics board determines doesn't involve the U.S. The U.S. isn't a defendant in the Gardasil lawsuits, raising questions about Kennedy's statements. 'RFK Jr.'s ethics agreement does not state that he has 'given away all of his rights to any fees' in any lawsuit,' Clark said. Wisner Baum didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the status of Kennedy's agreement with the firm. Public Health THE PUSH TO AX FLUORIDE IN FLORIDA — Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s campaign against adding fluoride to drinking water has gained traction, particularly in one state that's taken steps to make it a reality, POLITICO's Arek Sarkissian reports. In Florida, at least 11 municipalities have stopped or plan to stop supplementing their water supply with the mineral, which already occurs naturally in water. Those measures are partly because of the state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo, who has taken a staunch stance against fluoridation. It's also thanks to Stand for Health Freedom, an Indiana-based medical advocacy group that's been trying to end fluoride use in Florida for almost two years. Kennedy and the group have cited studies showing the risk of children suffering from lower IQs and increased behavioral problems. Ladapo and Stand for Health Freedom insist they're not working together to stop cities from adding fluoride to water supplies. However, many of Ladapo's appearances — where he promoted removing fluoride — were before governing boards that have been long targeted by the libertarian-leaning group. Ladapo declined to answer questions POLITICO emailed him on Jan. 24. Names in the News Dawn O'Connell is now a Menschel Senior Leadership Fellow at Howard University. She previously was HHS assistant secretary for preparedness and response. WHAT WE'RE READING STAT reports on an ebola case in Uganda. The Washington Post reports on how Sen. Mitch McConnell's childhood polio may impact how he votes on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Politico
30-01-2025
- Health
- Politico
RFK Jr. to face HELP panel in HHS bid
Presented by The Pharmaceutical Reform Alliance Driving the Day KENNEDY'S NEXT TEST — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Donald Trump's choice to lead HHS, appears before a key Senate health committee stacked with lawmakers who could cast the deciding vote for or against him, I report with my colleagues Lauren Gardner and Daniel Payne. The Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee is holding a courtesy confirmation hearing for Kennedy one day after he appeared before the Senate Finance Committee, which will decide whether to recommend his confirmation to the Senate. During his testimony before the Finance Committee on Wednesday, Kennedy tried to shed his history of anti-vaccine activism or speak broadly about the need for the U.S. government to address the rise of chronic disease. During questioning by Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), who chairs the HELP Committee, Kennedy appeared to confuse Medicare and Medicaid. What to expect today: More questioning on Kennedy's anti-vaccine rhetoric and public health views is likely today, given the HELP Committee's jurisdiction over public health agencies like the CDC and the FDA, which play key roles in monitoring and regulating vaccines. He could also field questions from lawmakers who want commitments on their policy priorities, as they did at the Finance hearing. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) issued a statement Wednesday touting Kennedy's support for focusing on rural health care improvements and reining in pharmacy middlemen. Why it matters: Though the HELP Committee won't vote to advance Kennedy's confirmation to the Senate floor, his answers could make the difference in whether he ultimately helms the federal government's health agencies. The exchanges with key senators Wednesday might suggest whether Kennedy's plans for sweeping reforms and reframing the government's role in U.S. health care will come to fruition. The senators to watch include: — Cassidy, who's maintained a poker face about how he's leaning. He might continue his questioning on Kennedy's policy priorities when it comes to federal health programs. — Sens. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who said earlier this week she wants to 'drill down on and try to get some commitments' from Kennedy, and Susan Collins (R-Maine). On Saturday, both lawmakers voted against Pete Hegseth, Trump's pick to lead the Pentagon. — Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said he liked Kennedy's adopted slogan, Make America Healthy Again, but sparred with him over whether health care should be a human right and his decision to put aside his past support for abortion rights to serve Trump, Sanders could also pick up on a line of questioning started by his colleague Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Kennedy's potential financial gain from lawsuits against drug companies. WELCOME TO THURSDAY PULSE. Opponents wearing Make Polio Great Again T-shirts and supporters wearing Make America Healthy Again hats came face to face Wednesday at Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s confirmation hearing. According to Capitol Police, six people were arrested for interrupting the hearing. What will we see today at the Senate HELP hearing? Send your tips, scoops and feedback to ccirruzzo@ and follow along @ChelseaCirruzzo. In Congress HEALTH POLICY? NOT NOW — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. appeared shaky on some finer health policy points during his Senate Finance confirmation hearing Wednesday — but his supporters aren't worried. Kennedy seemed to confuse Medicaid with the federal insurer for older Americans, Medicare, and struggled to answer a question about HHS' role in ensuring hospitals follow a longtime law requiring emergency rooms to treat patients regardless of their ability to pay. Calley Means, a former food industry lobbyist-turned-adviser to Kennedy, suggested on social media that some senators focused their questioning on arcane policy issues. 'While he is being questioned about minutiae, he continually raises the conversation to the existential stakes of our chronic disease crisis,' Means posted on Instagram as Sen. Ben Ray Luján (D-N.M.) grilled Kennedy about Medicaid. Later, at a Heritage Foundation reception for Kennedy supporters and the Make America Healthy Again PAC, Means told reporters that Kennedy's agenda on reducing chronic illness would eventually lead to federal health insurance policy change, saying 'standards of care' must be reworked. 'I think inevitably you'd have public policy decisions and administrative decisions around, potentially codes for Medicare, Medicaid, that come out of that science,' he said. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.), co-founder of the Senate Make America Healthy Again caucus, devoted to advancing Kennedy's agenda, also criticized his colleagues' line of questioning. 'This is not a hearing to get into the details of a particular program that is mind-numbingly complex to begin with,' he told reporters outside the hearing room. 'These hearings are about 'What is your intention, what are your goals?'' Abortion ANTI-ABORTION GROUP'S ENVIRONMENTAL PUSH — A cadre of red and purple states is introducing bills this week to impose restrictions on abortion pills over claims that the drugs could be contaminating drinking water, POLITICO's Alice Miranda Ollstein and Ariel Wittenberg report. The new legislation in Arizona, Idaho, Maine, West Virginia and Wyoming — which would require doctors who prescribe abortion pills to make their patients collect and return their expelled fetuses in medical waste bags for disposal — is the latest development in anti-abortion groups' yearslong campaign to wield environmental laws to cut off access to the drugs. The group leading the push, Students for Life of America, is also preparing lawsuits, federal bills and a pressure campaign aimed squarely at the environmental inclinations of Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who could soon lead the health agencies that regulate access to the pills. Students for Life and its lawmaker allies claim that as women increasingly use the pills at home to end pregnancies and flush the expelled tissue, trace amounts of the drug make their way into rivers and streams where they can harm endangered species and livestock. The group, which recently conducted its own testing in three U.S. cities and hopes to publish the results in a peer-reviewed medical journal later this year, has also claimed that the drug contaminates tap water and could threaten human fertility. Multiple environmental health experts told POLITICO that no evidence supports those claims. But they could be convincing to Kennedy, an environmental attorney who said during his confirmation hearing Wednesday that he plans to investigate the safety of abortion pills. Global Health U.S. TIME IN WHO TICKS DOWN — The U.S. has begun its one-year countdown to withdraw from the World Health Organization, POLITICO's Carmen Paun reports. The U.S. officially ends its membership on Jan. 22, 2026, according to a letter to the U.N. secretary-general and viewed by POLITICO. The letter doesn't provide a reason for the withdrawal. In an Inauguration Day executive order, President Donald Trump cited 'unfairly onerous payments from the United States, far out of proportion with other countries' assessed payments.' In 2020, during his first term, Trump threatened to withdraw, accusing the WHO of covering up Chinese negligence at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic. He couldn't complete the withdrawal because he lost that year's election. President Joe Biden reversed the withdrawal plan. Why it matters: The notification squashes doubts about the current U.S. intention to withdraw and sets a clear deadline. The WHO will lose hundreds of millions of dollars in mandatory and voluntary contributions from the U.S., which will be excluded from a global network that decides the yearly makeup of the flu vaccine based on circulating strains. Trump has touted the planned withdrawal in several speeches over the last few days and noted in one that he didn't expect the withdrawal to be so popular. The WHO said it hoped the U.S. would reconsider withdrawing in a statement last week. WHAT WE'RE READING POLITICO's Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein report on a second judge preparing to block the White House's federal funding freeze. POLITICO's Adam Cancryn reports on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s anti-vaccine group's response to his confirmation hearing. The Associated Press reports on a tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas. STAT reports on faltering mental health services despite the launch of a crisis hotline.
Politico
29-01-2025
- Health
- Politico
RFK Jr. faces Senate grilling today
Presented by The Pharmaceutical Reform Alliance Driving The Day ASKING MR. KENNEDY — Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will face his first vetting by lawmakers this morning when Senate Finance Committee members are sure to ask about his past comments on vaccines, federal health agency reform and abortion. It marks the first public opportunity for senators to probe whether he can run the sprawling federal health department, responsible for 80,000 employees and 13 supporting agencies. Kennedy has already privately met with most of the committee. Still, Kennedy's confirmation hearing for HHS secretary is expected to be uncomfortable for both parties, given the nominee's storied name, Democratic roots, history of spreading misinformation and troublesome headlines that include sexual assault allegations, affairs and potential mishandling of wildlife. It also comes amid a flurry of campaigns and letters for and against Kennedy's nomination by doctors, patient advocacy groups, a former vice president's conservative group and his family members. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who hails from Kennedy's home state, has already sent the nominee a list of 175 questions and called his views on vaccine safety and public health 'dangerous.' Meanwhile, several public health leaders and experts told POLITICO's Joanne Kenen they want to hear Kennedy's views on treatment for people with substance use disorders, Medicaid work requirements, block grants and the so-called germ theory of disease. Here are some lines of questioning we can expect today: On vaccines: Kennedy, who recently stepped down from the board of the anti-vaccine activist group Children's Health Defense, has sown doubts about vaccines, repeated false claims that vaccines cause autism and suggested that the polio vaccine might have killed more people than polio itself. Financial disclosures made public last week also reveal that Kennedy could stand to gain from his lawsuit challenging Merck's Gardasil vaccine, which prevents nine strains of HPV. Democrats will likely question and rebuke Kennedy on those views. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) told MSNBC recently he plans to come to the hearing with 'the receipts.' It's also possible that some Republicans — including Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a gastroenterologist who has previously said Kennedy was 'wrong' on vaccines — could jump in with their own questions. However, Republicans could instead seek to publicly affirm what Kennedy has been telling them: He isn't against vaccines but is 'pro-vaccine safety,' as Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) told reporters. On abortion: Kennedy's past support for abortion rights — which a conservative group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence has cited in their condemnation of his nomination — could come up. Still, some pro-life Republicans, including Sen. James Lankford (R-Okla.), say they've had their concerns about Kennedy's prior abortion support assuaged after meeting with him. On federal health reform: Kennedy's plans to overhaul health agencies — including his threat to fire officials at the FDA and the NIH who resist reform — are likely to be called into question. If Kennedy were to pursue even a fraction of the policy agenda he espoused as an activist, it would upend HHS and the public health system. He also might be questioned on how he'd change the FDA's drug approval process, which he's criticized for rejecting unproven therapies, including ivermectin for Covid-19. On his personal life: Sexual assault allegations — and admissions that he dumped a dead bear in Central Park and that the National Marine Fisheries Service was investigating him for cutting off a whale's head and driving it home three decades ago — could also come up. WELCOME TO WEDNESDAY PULSE. Our team is covering Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s confirmation hearings today and tomorrow, including your host, FDA reporter Lauren Gardner, who's helping with Pulse today. Please send your tips, scoops and feedback to lgardner@ or ccirruzzo@ and follow along @Gardner_LM and @ChelseaCirruzzo. AROUND THE AGENCIES MEDICAID MESS — Medicaid funding that typically flows from the federal government to states was frozen Tuesday due to a nationwide payment processing system outage, POLITICO's Robert King and Kelly Hooper report. Democratic lawmakers pinned the problem on President Donald Trump's orders freezing federal spending — including a late-Monday order pausing 'all federal financial assistance' save for Medicare and Social Security — while the administration reviews spending for any programs that defy the president's agenda. Officials from several states — including Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Massachusetts — said they had unsuccessfully tried to access federal Medicaid payments. The White House dismissed confusion around the order's scope, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt declining to directly say during a press briefing whether social service programs that serve people indirectly — such as Meals on Wheels and Medicaid — would be affected, POLITICO's Adam Cancryn and Myah Ward report. In a follow-up memorandum Tuesday, the Office of Management and Budget clarified that Medicaid should not be affected. 'We have confirmed no payments have been affected — they are still being processed and sent,' Leavitt posted on X later Tuesday afternoon. 'We expect the portal will be back online shortly.' Public Health BIRD FLU FEARS — Public health experts and former government officials worry that President Donald Trump could face another pandemic — and wouldn't be as prepared to address it — as avian influenza continues to spread in the U.S., Lauren writes with her colleagues David Lim and Marcia Brown. The virus killed the first person in the U.S. earlier this month and has infected 67 confirmed patients. While the disease isn't spreading among people, one mutation could change that. Biden administration critics say it didn't take some steps they believe would help stem the spread, such as vaccinating farmworkers against bird flu. Not so easy: But the president's options are limited, given economic and political considerations. Any effort to mitigate the chances of a viral mutation — like inducing farms to kill sick cattle as they already do with poultry — would be costly to another corner of the president's base. And a vaccination push would require buy-in from the farm community, whose workers are already wary of Trump's hard-line posture on immigration. Another complicating factor is the vaccine-skeptical views held by Trump nominees who, if confirmed, would be responsible for steering an avian flu pandemic response: Robert F Kennedy Jr. and Dr. Dave Weldon, a former Florida congressman tapped to lead the CDC. To be sure: If bird flu became a communicable disease among humans, Republicans could be well positioned to allay fears about a medical response like a vaccine given the Trump administration's stature in the agriculture industry, said Niki Carelli, executive director of the Coalition to Stop Flu and a lobbyist with The Daschle Group. In Congress THE KENNEDY PEANUT GALLERY — A smattering of big names and institutions weighed in Tuesday on Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s HHS nomination, the splashiest of which was his cousin's scathing rebuke of his qualifications for the role. Caroline Kennedy, in a letter first reported by The Washington Post and then read aloud by the former ambassador on X, called her cousin a 'predator' who 'is addicted to attention and power.' She accused him of victimizing parents with sick children and spreading vaccine misinformation despite immunizing his own children, Chelsea writes. She also alleged that he pulled other family members into substance use. Meanwhile, another Kennedy cousin — former Democratic Rep. Patrick Kennedy — supported Kennedy Jr.'s nomination in a letter to the editor in The Washington Post. Patrick Kennedy wrote that his cousin was supportive of his journey toward sobriety. 'On addiction policy, I believe he is the leader we need to meet this moment,' he wrote. Not to be outdone: Editorial boards at two publications owned by the Murdoch family — The Wall Street Journal and New York Post — denounced Kennedy Jr.'s nomination as HHS secretary, POLITICO's Amanda Friedman reports. Names in the News Rich Rieger has joined consulting firm Berkeley Research Group's health analytics practice as a managing director in Chicago, where he'll advise pharma and biotech companies. He's previously held positions at Baxter, Horizon Therapeutics and AbbVie. WHAT WE'RE READING President Donald Trump issued an executive order Tuesday ordering the federal government to stop paying for gender-affirming care for people under 19, POLITICO's Daniel Payne reports. The Trump administration has moved to stop supplying drugs for HIV, malaria and tuberculosis to countries supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development as part of a wider funding freeze, Reuters reports, citing a memo and sources. The FDA has approved Novo Nordisk's Ozempic to treat chronic kidney disease in people with type 2 diabetes, Bloomberg reports.
Politico
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Politico
Fear and loathing in federal agencies
Presented by The Pharmaceutical Reform Alliance With Carmen Paun Driving The Day WATCH AND WAIT — Federal workers are facing fresh anxieties with President Donald Trump's first week of actions targeting agencies, including those that lead the federal government's health policies. Some workers keeping the government running are thinking about quitting, POLITICO's Liz Crampton, Nick Niedzwiadek, Kevin Bogardus, Nahal Toosi and Alice Miranda Ollstein report. Others are preparing to file grievances with their unions, moving communications to encrypted platforms or strategizing. Within hours of returning to power, Trump issued a slew of executive orders seeking to overhaul how the federal government operates, from removing job protections to ending remote work to implementing a hiring freeze. But his order to remove diversity, equity and inclusion programs has been especially worrisome. For many federal workers, watching and waiting are the best courses of action until they have more clarity about what comes next. That's partly because not all of Trump's executive orders are what they seem … A number of the incoming administration's orders have more muscle than they did in the first Trump administration — but some are just posturing, POLITICO's Irie Senter and Megan Messerly report. Removing diversity, equity and inclusion programs, freezing spending from the Inflation Reduction Act, withdrawing from the World Health Organization and pulling the plug on the U.S.' commitment to the Paris climate agreement have real consequences across the country — and the globe. But Trump's order defining gender as only male or female won't automatically fulfill the president's campaign-trail promises to stop transgender students from participating in sports. And the order targeted at ending the federal government's efforts to pressure social media platforms to change their content comes after most of those activities have already ceased. Still, a number of the Week One policies, from allowing transgender troops to openly serve in the military to ending birthright citizenship, will likely be decided by the courts. WELCOME TO MONDAY PULSE. I'm Daniel Payne, filling in for Chelsea today. Do you know something about Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s upcoming confirmation hearing — or a tip about other health policy movement on the Hill? Reach out by email at dpayne@ or by Signal @danielp.100 and ccirruzzo@ and @ChelseaCirruzzo. In Congress FIRST IN PULSE: SENATORS IN THE CROSSHAIRS OF ANTI-RFK PUSH — Protect Our Care's Stop RFK War Room is out with a new ad campaign urging senators to reject his confirmation. The campaign from the Democratically aligned health group leads up to Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s HHS secretary confirmation hearing before the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday. Kennedy will appear before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee on Thursday. The group, which is putting more than a million dollars into its monthslong campaign against Kennedy, plans to target senators it believes could be open to voting against Kennedy: Sens. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), John Curtis (R-Utah), Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) and Thom Tillis(R-N.C.). Another group is targeting the same senators. 314 Action, which works to boost scientists' voices in policymaking, will launch $250,000 in digital ads Monday. Both groups will call attention to Kennedy's history of anti-vaccine rhetoric as a reason to reject him. Covid CIA LEANS TOWARD LAB LEAK — Several Republican lawmakers and others who have supported the theory that a lab leak in China triggered the Covid-19 pandemic feel vindicated after the CIA said Saturday it's more likely that was the pandemic's origins than an infected animal that spread the virus to people, Carmen reports. This comes after the CIA has been saying for years that it couldn't conclude with certainty how the pandemic started. A U.S. official granted anonymity to share private details about the assessment said former CIA Director William Burns had told analysts that they needed to take a position on the Covid pandemic's origins but he was agnostic on potential theories. A new CIA analysis of the intelligence it had on the virus' origin was completed and published internally before the arrival of former Republican congressmember John Ratcliffe, who became the CIA's new director Thursday. Why it matters: Congressional Republicans have embraced the unproven lab leak theory, pointing to how the first cases of Covid were reported in Wuhan where a virology lab was researching coronaviruses at the time. Background: Neither theory about how the pandemic started has been proven. Global Health GLOBAL HEALTH PROGRAMS' SPENDING FREEZE — A Secretary of State Marco Rubio order freezing foreign aid spending for 90 days Friday alarmed global health activists, some members of Congress and former global health officials, who warned it would lead to deaths among people depending on it for lifesaving treatment. The President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief — better known as PEPFAR — which funds treatment for people living with HIV in many countries, mostly in Africa, is one example. 'This stop-work order is cruel and deadly,' said Asia Russell, the executive director of Health GAP, a nonprofit that advocates for access to treatment in people with HIV. 'It will snatch HIV medicines, prevention services and support from the hands of adults, babies and young people across PEPFAR-supported countries,' she said. Russell argued that the global program, credited with saving 25 million lives since President George W. Bush started it in 2003, makes America safer, more prosperous and more secure, in line with President Donald Trump's foreign policy tenets. The program has received about $5 billion in funding annually in recent years. Dems react: Reps. Gregory Meeks (D-N.Y.), top Democrat in the House Foreign Affairs Committee, and Lois Frankel (D-Fla.), ranking member in the House Appropriations Subcommittee on National Security, Department of State and Related Programs, also warned in a letter to Rubio on Friday that the freeze will cost lives, referring to PEPFAR and the President's Malaria Initiative, which they wrote 'provides 37 million mosquito nets and malaria medicines to 63 million people to prevent further spread of one of the world's deadliest diseases. These lives depend on an uninterrupted supply of medicines.' Dr. Atul Gawande, who ran global health programs at the U.S. Agency for International Development during the Biden administration, warned in a post on X on Saturday that the order also stops work battling a deadly outbreak of Marburg — a virus similar to Ebola, known to cause more deaths — in Tanzania and 'stops monitoring of bird flu in 49 countries, a disease which has already killed an American on home soil.' Abortion MEXICO CITY POLICY IS BACK — Trump signed an executive order Friday reinstating the so-called Mexico City Policy — named for the city where it was first announced — restricting foreign organizations receiving U.S. global health funding from providing and promoting abortion with other sources of financing. In doing so, Trump is follows a Republican presidential tradition that started with Ronald Reagan in 1984. Democratic presidents have rescinded the policy. The Trump administration renamed it Protecting Life in Global Health Assistance during his first term. Anti-abortion advocates, including members of Congress, celebrated the return of the policy. 'By redirecting taxpayer dollars away from the abortion industry, President Trump has reinstituted a life-affirming protection consistent with the political consensus that taxpayer dollars should not fund abortion and the abortion industry,' said Rep. Chris Smith (R-N.J.), who chairs the House Foreign Affairs global health subcommittee. Organizations that work to prevent infectious disease and provide abortions and those that advocate for abortion rights warned that the policy would ultimately cost lives. 'The cost of reimposing this rule will be paid in hardship, human lives and a reversal of some of the most important gains in the HIV response,' said Beatriz Grinsztejn, president of the International AIDS Society. She argued the policy will cause 'severe disruption to health services, including HIV and reproductive and sexual health, particularly in areas of the world most affected by HIV.' And so is the Geneva Consensus Declaration: The Trump administration Friday made another anti-abortion move on the global stage: The State Department informed signatories of the Geneva Consensus Declaration of the U.S. intent to rejoin immediately. Background: The declaration, signed during the first Trump administration, was a joint initiative with Brazil, Egypt, Hungary, Indonesia, and Uganda. The coalition of countries sought to curb global access and support for abortions by stating that no international right to abortion exists, and thus countries don't have any obligation to finance or facilitate it. Former President Joe Biden withdrew the U.S. from it when he took office. Brazil and Colombia have also since withdrawn from it, as progressive heads of state took over in both countries. WHAT WE'RE READING The New York Times reports on the reasons some vaccines contain aluminum. The Washington Post reports on why Covid rates weren't as bad as expected this winter — but flu rates were worse. The Atlantic's Faith Hill questions the narrative of the modern loneliness epidemic.
