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In another signal of the anti-science chill that has descended upon federal government, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has quietly cancelled a long-planned climate summit in anticipation of its unpopularity within the Donald Trump administration.
The February summit--intended to provide a forum for public health officials to discuss the risks that climate change poses to human health--was reportedly called off before Friday's inauguration, according to emails obtained by E&E News, which broke the story on Monday before the CDC confirmed the cancellation to news outlets.
"Unfortunately, we are unable to hold the Summit in February 2017," said the emails, which were sent to scheduled speakers beginning on Dec. 22. "We are currently exploring options so that the Summit may take place later in the year."
Though no official explanation was provided, Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association (APHA), who was scheduled to be keynote speaker at the CDC summit, told the Washington Post that "agency officials decided to preemptively call off the event, rather than risk running afoul of an incoming president who has repeatedly called climate change a 'hoax' and has nominated climate change skeptics to his Cabinet," as the newspaper put it.
"They ran it up the flagpole and realized that it was so close to the inauguration, the chances of it being canceled were pretty real with the administration that was coming in," Benjamin said. "Some might argue they should have said, 'We're going to do this and make them tell us no.' But that was the decision they made. We should think of this as a strategic retreat."
Since Trump won the election and in the mere days since his inauguration, it has been made clear that the study and mitigation of climate change is no longer a priority for the federal government. All mention of the crisis has been scrubbed from the White House website, replaced with an "America First Energy Plan" that calls for doubling down on domestic fossil fuel extraction.
Such moves were not a surprise to many, given Trump's stated beliefs on global warming and the climate-change deniers chosen to lead his cabinet, including Environmental Protection Agency nominee Scott Pruitt and newly-confirmed Secretary of State and former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson.
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In another signal of the anti-science chill that has descended upon federal government, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has quietly cancelled a long-planned climate summit in anticipation of its unpopularity within the Donald Trump administration.
The February summit--intended to provide a forum for public health officials to discuss the risks that climate change poses to human health--was reportedly called off before Friday's inauguration, according to emails obtained by E&E News, which broke the story on Monday before the CDC confirmed the cancellation to news outlets.
"Unfortunately, we are unable to hold the Summit in February 2017," said the emails, which were sent to scheduled speakers beginning on Dec. 22. "We are currently exploring options so that the Summit may take place later in the year."
Though no official explanation was provided, Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association (APHA), who was scheduled to be keynote speaker at the CDC summit, told the Washington Post that "agency officials decided to preemptively call off the event, rather than risk running afoul of an incoming president who has repeatedly called climate change a 'hoax' and has nominated climate change skeptics to his Cabinet," as the newspaper put it.
"They ran it up the flagpole and realized that it was so close to the inauguration, the chances of it being canceled were pretty real with the administration that was coming in," Benjamin said. "Some might argue they should have said, 'We're going to do this and make them tell us no.' But that was the decision they made. We should think of this as a strategic retreat."
Since Trump won the election and in the mere days since his inauguration, it has been made clear that the study and mitigation of climate change is no longer a priority for the federal government. All mention of the crisis has been scrubbed from the White House website, replaced with an "America First Energy Plan" that calls for doubling down on domestic fossil fuel extraction.
Such moves were not a surprise to many, given Trump's stated beliefs on global warming and the climate-change deniers chosen to lead his cabinet, including Environmental Protection Agency nominee Scott Pruitt and newly-confirmed Secretary of State and former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson.
In another signal of the anti-science chill that has descended upon federal government, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has quietly cancelled a long-planned climate summit in anticipation of its unpopularity within the Donald Trump administration.
The February summit--intended to provide a forum for public health officials to discuss the risks that climate change poses to human health--was reportedly called off before Friday's inauguration, according to emails obtained by E&E News, which broke the story on Monday before the CDC confirmed the cancellation to news outlets.
"Unfortunately, we are unable to hold the Summit in February 2017," said the emails, which were sent to scheduled speakers beginning on Dec. 22. "We are currently exploring options so that the Summit may take place later in the year."
Though no official explanation was provided, Georges Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Association (APHA), who was scheduled to be keynote speaker at the CDC summit, told the Washington Post that "agency officials decided to preemptively call off the event, rather than risk running afoul of an incoming president who has repeatedly called climate change a 'hoax' and has nominated climate change skeptics to his Cabinet," as the newspaper put it.
"They ran it up the flagpole and realized that it was so close to the inauguration, the chances of it being canceled were pretty real with the administration that was coming in," Benjamin said. "Some might argue they should have said, 'We're going to do this and make them tell us no.' But that was the decision they made. We should think of this as a strategic retreat."
Since Trump won the election and in the mere days since his inauguration, it has been made clear that the study and mitigation of climate change is no longer a priority for the federal government. All mention of the crisis has been scrubbed from the White House website, replaced with an "America First Energy Plan" that calls for doubling down on domestic fossil fuel extraction.
Such moves were not a surprise to many, given Trump's stated beliefs on global warming and the climate-change deniers chosen to lead his cabinet, including Environmental Protection Agency nominee Scott Pruitt and newly-confirmed Secretary of State and former ExxonMobil CEO Rex Tillerson.
"What we're focused on are those members who come from states with large Medicaid populations, and who should have the guts to stand up for their constituents," said the founder of Protect Our Care.
With President Donald Trump in the White House and Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress, the GOP is examining numerous ways to offset the revenue loss that's expected from the proposed extension of the 2017 tax cuts—a decision that's expected to cost more than $4 trillion, with wealthy individuals and businesses benefiting the most.
But the advocacy group Protect Our Care, which was founded in 2017 as the first Trump administration faced intense backlash against its effort to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA), is now working to ensure that Medicaid cuts are left out of upcoming budget reconciliation talks—and that Republicans who support such cuts face consequences in upcoming elections.
The group on Tuesday launched a $10 million campaign titled "Hands Off Medicaid," with TV and digital ads running nationwide, particularly in states with high numbers of Medicaid enrollees and Republican lawmakers whom Protect Our Care believes could be pressured to defend the program.
"What we're focused on are those members who come from states with large Medicaid populations, and who should have the guts to stand up for their constituents," Leslie Dach, founder of Protect Our Care, told The Washington Post. "This is a campaign designed to stop these cuts from happening in reconciliation."
While the ads will be seen across the nation, reminding lawmakers that 79 million Americans are covered under the healthcare program for low-income people, children, and patients with disabilities, the Republicans who are being particularly targeted include Sens. Bill Cassidy (La.), Susan Collins (Maine), Thom Tillis (N.C.), and Lisa Murkowski (Alaska), and Reps. Michael Lawler (N.Y.), Ryan Mackenzie (Pa.), and David Schweikert (Ariz.).
In addition to launching an ad blitz, Protect Our Care is organizing the writing of op-eds and letters to the editor placed by experts, healthcare professionals, and people who rely on Medicaid; grassroots lobbying and meetings with lawmakers; and in-person and virtual events in key states and districts.
While the group shares the stories of people covered by Medicaid, including more than 31 million children, Republicans have been perusing a "menu" of more than $5 trillion in potential spending cuts, including an estimated $2.3 trillion from the healthcare program.
Republicans are considering changes to the program's payment structure that would fund Medicaid based on state population; reintroducing work requirements, which Trump greenlit during his first term; and lowering the rate of federal payments for Medicaid beneficiaries who are covered under the ACA's expansion of the program.
On Monday night, hours after his inauguration, Trump rescinded an executive order signed by former President Joe Biden that made it harder to impose work requirements for Medicaid enrollees.
The advocacy group Social Security Works pointed out ahead of Trump's inauguration that "every member of the U.S. House is on the ballot in two years."
"If they try to cut ONE PENNY from Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid, we will make sure that they lose their jobs," said the group.
More than 300 organizations signed a letter earlier this month, as members of Congress were sworn in, warning them that cutting Medicaid "would betray your constituents of all political affiliations who are seeking more economic security, not less."
Dach noted on Tuesday that Republicans are eyeing cuts to social spending after an election in which the party "claimed to care about working people and the cost of living."
"Nothing could be more outrageous than ripping away healthcare from millions of seniors, children, moms, and workers to pay for another round of tax cuts for millionaires and billionaires," said Dach. "The American people didn't vote in November to have their grandparents kicked out of nursing homes or healthcare ripped away from kids with disabilities or expectant moms in order to give [billionaire Trump backer] Elon Musk another tax cut."
"We know firsthand from the campaign to defeat [the] ACA repeal eight years ago, and every healthcare fight since, that healthcare is a top-of-mind issue for Americans—and they want lawmakers to do more to ensure affordable access to coverage, not less," Dach added. "Our 'Hands off Medicaid' campaign will make that abundantly clear and demand that Medicaid cuts are off the table—for good."
"There is no cease-fire for Palestinians," said Palestinian writer Yara Hawari.
Israeli security forces on Tuesday launched an attack on the West Bank city of Jenin, just a day after U.S. President Donald Trump rescinded Biden-era sanctions that were levied on extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank accused of carrying out violence against Palestinians.
Trump moved to overturn the sanctions even after Israeli settlers in the illegally occupied West Bank carried out attacks against Palestinians communities earlier this week. The events highlight the threat of future violence in the West Bank.
A resident of Jenin, Asaad Salim, told the outlet Middle East Eye that the Tuesday attack on Jenin began with Israeli special forces infiltrating a neighborhood in the east of the city. Salim reported Israeli warplanes firing on the city and the Jenin refugee camp and armed clashes took place between Palestinian resistance fighters and the Israeli army, per Middle East Eye.
"There are bodies in the streets, and many people are injured, but no one can reach them. Ambulances can't move due to the intense and sudden assault," Salim told the outlet.
At least eight Palestinians were killed and 35 people were injured, per Reuters, citing Palestinian health services.
"There is no cease-fire for Palestinians," wrote Palestinian writer Yara Hawari, reacting to an Al Jazeera news alert that Israeli forces had attacked the Jenin refugee camp. Her remarks were in reference to a cease-fire deal that went into effect on Sunday, halting hostilities in the war-torn Gaza strip.
The Israeli army and Shin Bet security service announced Tuesday's operation, calling it a counter-terrorism measure codenamed "Iron Wall," according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz. It will continue "as long as necessary," the outlet reported.
According to Reuters, Israel's far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said that the operation was the beginning of a "strong and ongoing campaign" against militant groups "for the protection of settlements and settlers." Smotrich earlier had said he was pleased with Trump's decision to lift sanctions on settlers who are accused of violence against Palestinians, per Reuters.
At multiple points last year, Israel launched attacks on Jenin, and just last week Israeli airstrikes killed three people there, according to Palestinian officials. In December, forces with the Palestinian Authority—which administers parts of the West Bank—stormed the Jenin refugee camp and began a crackdown on armed groups in the camp, which has long been a site of armed struggle and resistance to Israel.
"Trump is again proving that he lied to the American people and doesn't care about lowering costs—only what's best for himself and his ultra-rich friends."
As part of a flurry of executive actions on the first day of his second White House term, President Donald Trump on Monday rescinded an order signed by his predecessor that aimed to develop programs to lower prescription drug prices in the United States—where residents pay far more for medications than people in peer countries.
News of Trump's rollback of Executive Order 14087—titled Lowering Prescription Drug Costs for Americans—was buried amid dozens of other rescissions the president ordered shortly following his inauguration.
The decision to scrap Executive Order 14087 brings to a halt several pilot programs undertaken by the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation, including an experiment that involved offering generic medications for a $2 copay to Medicare Part D recipients.
"This act is a good indication of how Trump will approach lower drug prices," Social Security Works, a progressive advocacy group, wrote in response to Trump's rescission of President Joe Biden's executive order.
Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, added that "the big question, which Trump hasn't addressed yet, is what he’ll do with government negotiation of drug prices under the Inflation Reduction Act."
Just days before Trump took office, the Biden administration announced a fresh slate of 15 medications set to be subject to direct price negotiations between the federal government and pharmaceutical companies, many of which have sued over the negotiation program—thus far unsuccessfully.
Reuters reported last week that the powerful pharmaceutical lobby has been pushing Trump's team to back changes to the Inflation Reduction Act that would weaken the price-negotiation provisions.
"Donald Trump is already following through on his dangerous plans to jack up the costs of drugs to appease his billionaire backers after the Biden-Haris administration took on Big Pharma and won," Alex Floyd, rapid response director for the Democratic National Committee, said in a statement. "Trump is again proving that he lied to the American people and doesn't care about lowering costs—only what's best for himself and his ultra-rich friends."
Responding more broadly to the president's day-one wave of unilateral actions—which included attacks on immigrants and the climate—Working Families Party national director Maurice Mitchell said Tuesday that "Trump's flood of executive orders is just a cheap spectacle meant to distract us while his administration moves to gut our healthcare and SNAP benefits."
"Immigrant families aren't the reason we can't afford eggs or prescription drugs; billionaire CEOs are," Mitchell added.