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Most members of a key Senate committee are rejecting President-elect Donald Trump’s skepticism about the safety of vaccines, which suggests Trump could face significant backlash in Congress if he seeks to advance the anti-vaccine movement from the Oval Office. In the week following Trump’s controversial meeting with vaccine skeptic Robert F. Kennedy Jr., STAT contacted all 23 members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and asked whether they shared Trump’s concerns about vaccine safety. ... Eighteen senators, including eight of the 12 Republicans in the committee’s majority, expressed confidence in the US vaccination system and recognized the health benefits of vaccination. (Facher and Scott, 1/18)

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., introduced legislation Tuesday to permanently extend health care benefits for retired coal miners and their spouses, a measure that could help ensure coverage for some 16,000 people. The bill would also include a sense of the Senate provision that says Congress should work with the incoming Trump administration to dismantle environmental rules, which he says hurt the industry. The health care benefits were threatened by the exhaustion of the United Mine Workers Association 1993 Benefit Plan, which became underfunded as the fortunes of the mining industry declined in the face of competition from lower-cost natural gas and federal regulations that aimed to reduce emissions of climate-warming gases from power plants. (Dillon, 1/17)