Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
UCLA Science Research Grants Must Be Restored, Federal Judge Rules
A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Trump administration to restore hundreds of suspended UCLA science research grants, affecting more than a third of awards totaling $584 million that the government abruptly froze late last month. In her evening order, issued hours after a San Francisco court hearing, U.S. District Judge Rita F. Lin said the government’s slashing of UCLA funds violated her June ruling blocking science research grant terminations. The National Science Foundation’s “suspension of the grants at issue here is vacated,” wrote Lin, of the Northern District of California. (Kaleem, 8/12)
President Donald Trump issued an expansive executive order Thursday that would centralize power and upend the process that the US government has used for decades to award research grants. If implemented, political appointees — not career civil servants, including scientists — would have control over grants, from initial funding calls to final review. This is the Trump administration’s latest move to assert control over US science. The EO, titled ‘Improving Oversight of Federal Grantmaking’, orders each US agency head to designate an appointee to develop a grant-review process that will “advance the President’s policy priorities”. Those processes must not fund grants that advance “anti-American values” and instead prioritize funding for institutions committed to achieving Trump’s plan for ‘gold-standard science’. (Garisto, 8/8)
A small federal agency that studies how to improve the health care system has been rendered functionally “incapacitated” after much of its staff was laid off or retired, according to three people, including two former employees, who spoke with STAT. (Cirruzzo, 8/13)
On homelessness and human rights —
As hundreds of National Guard troops deployed on Tuesday in the nation's capital, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said homeless people in Washington, D.C., who refuse to move into shelters will face prosecution or fines. "Homeless individuals will be given the option to leave their encampment, to be taken to a homeless shelter, to be offered addiction or mental health services," Leavitt said during a press briefing, when asked by NPR about the expanding crackdown. "If they refuse, they will be subjected to fines or jail time." (Mann, 8/13)
The State Department on Tuesday released an annual collection of reports on human rights records in nearly 200 nations, but left out language on persistent abuses in many nations that was present in prior reports. The omissions were another sign of the Trump administration’s sharp move away from criticizing human rights offenses. Key language in sections on El Salvador, Hungary, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Israel — all seen as close partners by the Trump administration — was scaled back or excised. (Wong, 8/12)
