Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Trump Flexing Executive Muscle, But Lack Of Communication With Agencies May Undercut Orders
President Donald Trump鈥檚 team made little effort to consult with federal agency lawyers or lawmakers as they churned out executive actions this week, stoking fears the White House is creating the appearance of real momentum with flawed orders that might be unworkable, unenforceable or even illegal. ...聽Just a small circle of officials at the Department of Health and Human Services knew about the executive action starting to unwind Obamacare, and they got a heads-up only the night before it was released. Key members of Congress weren鈥檛 consulted either, according to several members. And at a conference in Philadelphia, GOP legislators say they had no idea whether some of the executive orders would contrast with existing laws 鈥 because they hadn't reviewed them. (Arnsdorf, Dawsey and Kim, 1/25)
The Trump administration could just be getting started issuing directives to kill Obamacare. Rep. Chris Collins (R-N.Y.), who served as President Donald Trump鈥檚 congressional liaison, said today that the administration plans to use its powers to unilaterally overhaul as much of health care law as possible. That could include rolling back thousands of provisions written and implemented by federal agencies over the last several years. (Cancryn, 1/25)
The federal funding to help Flint, Mich., repair its lead poisoned drinking water system is operating outside the Environmental Protection Agency鈥檚 reported grant and contracting freeze, the agency confirmed Wednesday. The freeze聽does not pertain to 鈥渆nvironmental program grants and state revolving loan fund grants,鈥 which is where $100 million of the Flint aid package currently resides, according to agency spokesman. (Dillon, 1/25)
And in other administration news聽鈥
Former biotech executive聽Joseph Gulfo聽has been offering the Trump administration advice on how it could reshape the Food and Drug Administration.聽It seems the administration likes what he has to say.聽Gulfo, who sparred with the FDA over the approval of a medical device product from 2010 to 2013, is now on the list of candidates the new administration is vetting to lead the FDA. (Chacko, 1/25)
President Donald Trump said Wednesday he intends to announce his nominee for the Supreme Court on Feb. 2, and three federal appeals court judges are said to be the front-runners to fill the lifetime seat held by the late Justice Antonin Scalia, a conservative icon. The leading contenders, who have met with Trump, are William Pryor, Neil Gorsuch and Thomas Hardiman, according to a person familiar with the process who was not authorized to speak publicly about internal decisions and discussed the search on condition of anonymity. (1/25)
