On Thursday, the U.S. Senate passed its own version of the Farm Reauthorization Bill (S. 3042) on a bipartisan vote of 86-11. The Senate’s $867 billion Farm Bill does not include major modifications to nutrition title provisions that govern the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and SNAP-Education (SNAP-Ed). Despite the fact that several senators filed…
Read More »On Thursday, the U.S. House of Representatives passed an $867 billion Farm Bill Reauthorization (H.R. 2) on a 213-211 vote. The measure, which encompasses wide-ranging topics such as nutrition assistance, agricultural research, crop subsidies, and rural development, faced a tumultuous journey in making it through the House. Recall last month, the Farm Bill failed passage…
Read More »This week, the Trump Administration announced its plans to utilize a rare budgetary exercise to request a “rescission” – or claw-back – of $15 billion in federal funds, including those set aside for the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), Ebola response, and other health-related items. The Trump Administration rescission request targets federal funds appropriated but…
Read More »The U.S. House of Representatives this week continued its discussion and markup of the Farm Bill Reauthorization (H.R. 2) with the measure set for a vote in the House next week. Included in the measure are significant modifications for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and SNAP-Education (SNAP-Ed). The measure would propose to consolidate SNAP-Ed…
Read More »On Monday, a federal rule requiring calorie and nutrition information to be posted on menus of certain establishments throughout the United States took effect. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulation applies to chain restaurants and similar retail food establishments with 20 or more locations that sell prepared food items, including grocery stores and movie…
Read More »This week, Senators Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee) and Patty Murray (D-Washington), Chair and Ranking Member of the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP), respectively, introduced the “Opioid Crisis Response Act of 2018.” The measure, S. 2680, is the result of 40 various proposals from Republican and Democratic Senators, seven bipartisan hearings over…
Read More »Last week, President Donald Trump quietly issued an executive order directing a wide swath of federal agencies, including the Departments of Health and Human Services, Housing and Urban Development, Agriculture, and Education, to review and develop rules for “any program that provides means-tested assistance or other assistance that provides benefits to people, households, or families…
Read More »On Thursday, U.S. Surgeon General Jerome Adams issued a national public health advisory urging more Americans to keep on hand and learn how to use effectively the opioid antidote naloxone. While many first responders carry naloxone, the advisory suggests family, friends, and those who are personally at risk of an opioid overdose to ensure the…
Read More »On Monday, President Donald Trump unveiled his Administration’s wide-ranging plan to address the nation’s opioid epidemic, vowing to “liberate” the country from the crisis. Recall, President Trump convened an opioid commission last year to identify recommended interventions, declared the opioid epidemic a public health emergency five months ago, and hosted an opioid epidemic summit at…
Read More »On Wednesday, the Trump Administration named HIV researcher Robert Redfield, M.D. as the next director of the U.S. Centers and Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). According to a statement from Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar, Redfield served as the founding director of the U.S. Military’s HIV Research Program Department of Retroviral Research and…
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