On March 27, 2025, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced a significant reorganization plan pursuant to President Trump’s Executive Order on government efficiency, aiming to consolidate several of its operating divisions. The reorganization includes the formation of the Administration for Healthy America (AHA) by combining five existing agencies, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health (OASH), the… (Colocho, May 9, 2025) #Budget, #Food and Drug Administration, #National Institutes of Health, #Program Integrity, #Public Health, #Workforce

The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee convened a hearing to consider the nomination of James O’Neill to serve as Deputy Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). Mr. O’Neill largely aligned himself with the views of HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and frequently praised the administration’s recent actions. The hearing, originally scheduled to also include testimony… (Eisen, May 8, 2025) #Public Health, #Women’s Health

President Trump has signed more than 145 Executive Orders (EOs) since taking office, hundreds of lawsuits have been filed, and at least 143 rulings have led to full or partial temporary pauses on the government’s ability to implement EOs or other executive actions.  Our litigation tracker is updated daily with information regarding legal cases filed in response to Executive Branch actions. Tab 1 includes instructions for using the tracker. Tab… (Joyce, Eisen, May 8, 2025) #Health Equity

The Senate and House Appropriations Subcommittees on Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies each held hearings to discuss the President’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 budget request for the Department of Agriculture (USDA) with USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins. Much of the hearings focused on agricultural issues, but some legislators included nutrition programs in their remarks. Democrats noted their concerns about staff reductions,… (McClurg, May 7, 2025) #Nutrition

Yesterday, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (HHS OIG) released a report identifying up to $17 billion in potential cost savings if Congress acts on a subset of recent OIG findings highlighting major opportunities to improve efficiency in HHS programs. Key areas of potential savings include: $6.9 billion by strengthening risk adjustment in Medicare Advantage,… (Eisen, May 6, 2025) #Costs, #Medicare Advantage, #Physicians

President Trump issued executive orders aimed at promoting domestic pharmaceutical manufacturing and improving the safety and security of biological research. Additional details for each follow. Regulatory Relief to Promote Domestic Production of Critical Medicines (fact sheet) – The fact sheet details that building new manufacturing capacity for pharmaceutical and critical inputs can take as long as five to ten years,… (Slifer, May 5, 2025) #Prescription Drugs

Today, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and the Department of Justice (DOJ) Antitrust Division issued a joint letter to agency heads across the federal government, instructing them to identify and report anticompetitive regulations that may hinder competition, entrepreneurship, and innovation. This directive is part of the implementation of President Trump’s Executive Order 14267 on Reducing Anticompetitive Regulatory Barriers. The Executive… (Eisen, May 5, 2025) #Hospitals

Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Sen. Peter Welch (D-OR) reintroduced the Fair Prescription Drug Prices for Americans Act, which would establish international reference pricing for prescription drugs (press release). The reintroduction of this bill comes amid reports that the White House is pushing for the inclusion of a Most Favored Nation policy for Medicaid reimbursement of prescription drugs in the… (Slifer, May 5, 2025) #Drug Pricing, #Prescription Drugs

Today the Office of Management and Budget shared (fact sheets) the toplines of President Trump’s fiscal year (FY) 2026 discretionary budget request with Congress, outlining proposed spending levels across federal agencies. The budget asks Congress to cut spending on non-defense programs by more than $163 billion, a 22.6% cut from current enacted spending levels. Political Context: Director Vought’s letter to… (Testa, May 2, 2025) #Budget, #Grants, #Health Equity, #Housing, #National Institutes of Health, #Nutrition, #Public Health, #Women’s Health

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) posted a call for research on the budgetary impacts of nutrition standards in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). Currently, while there are some restrictions on SNAP purchases (e.g. no hot food), there are no nutritional requirements. CBO notes that lawmakers have expressed interest in adding nutritional standards to SNAP that limit allowable purchases. CBO will use… (McClurg, May 2, 2025) #Nutrition