Thursday, July 31, 2025

❗️tune into a lotta laughs

Premiering Now

We're bringing you another special from the Just For Laughs vault with Howie Mandel hosting a night of one-of-a-kind performances from the biggest names in comedy. Catch the premiere NOW.

JOIN NOW

No longer want to receive these emails? Unsubscribe.
800 Pound Gorilla Media 2515 Cruzen Street Nashville, Tennessee 37211

Health Care — Senate panel rejects Trump budget health cuts

View Online

Health Care

The Big Story

Senate panel rejects Trump budget health cuts

The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday rejected the Trump administration's massive proposed funding cut to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), advancing a measure that would increase the agency's budget by $400 million.

The White House budget called for slashing NIH by $18 billion, a decrease of 40 percent. Instead, the committee advanced the bill on a 26-3 vote, delivering a bipartisan rebuke of the administration's efforts to defund medical research.

The bill includes a $100 million increase for Alzheimer's disease research, a $150 million increase for cancer research and a $30 million increase for the Office of Research on Women's Health.

While funding for other parts of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) was left the same, it was still a far cry from the major cuts put forward by the White House.

"To the scientists wondering if there will even be an NIH by the end of this administration: this committee's resounding message is yes," said Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the committee's vice chair.

The panel also did not include a massive HHS reorganization that would have created a new Administration for a Healthy America (AHA) to focus on chronic disease prevention.

The White House budget request called for the new AHA agency to absorb other existing agencies and programs within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, as well as the entire Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, and the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences.

The administration proposed giving the AHA agency a budget of $20 billion. But lawmakers on Thursday never mentioned it.

An Appropriations Committee spokesperson told The Hill that HHS never sent Congress the required formal reorganization plan or allow for six months of consideration.

Welcome to The Hill's Health Care newsletter, we're Nathaniel Weixel, Joseph Choi and Alejandra O'Connell-Domenech — every week we follow the latest moves on how Washington impacts your health.

Did someone forward you this newsletter? Subscribe here.

Essential Reads

How policy will be impacting the health care sector this week and beyond:

Fewer kindergarteners are being vaccinated, CDC data show

Vaccinations among kindergarteners declined during the 2024-25 school year compared to the year before, according to new data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Rates dipped to 92.1 percent for the diphtheria, tetanus, and acellular pertussis vaccine (DTaP) and to 92.5 percent for the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine (MMR) and polio vaccine, the data show. The drop in vaccination coverage …

Full Story

Cooper's North Carolina Senate bid will put Medicaid front and center

Democrats are hoping health care will be a winning issue across the 2026 midterm elections and see North Carolina as the top potential pickup opportunity in their long-shot play to regain control of the Senate.

Full Story

What is the Presidential Fitness Test?

President Trump will sign an executive order on Thursday to reestablish the Presidential Fitness Test, a controversial relic of the Cold War era that former President Obama abandoned in 2012. The executive order would create programs for schools to reward "excellence in physical education," White House officials told CNN, and aims to address "the widespread epidemic of declining health and physical fitness." “President …

Full Story

In Other News

Branch out with a different read:

Weight loss drugs may boost testosterone in men, study finds

GLP-1 weight loss medications like Ozempic and Wegovy could increase testosterone levels and help prevent erectile dysfunction in men, according to a new study. While more data is needed, researchers from St. Louis University Hospital saw significant increases in testosterone levels for men with obesity or Type 2 diabetes while taking GLP-1 medication. Men who experience obesity or have Type 2 diabetes often have lower levels …

Full Story

Around the Nation

Local and state headlines on health care:

A California bill might make it easier for people to get help with medical bills (CalMatters)
Massachusetts assisted living home had its license suspended twice before fatal fire (Boston Globe)
RFK Jr. is elevating vaccine hesitancy. Texas advocates were prepared to seize the moment (Dallas Morning News)

What We're Reading

Health news we've flagged from other outlets:

Trump administration halted lawsuits targeting civil rights abuses of prisoners and mentally ill people (ProPublica)
Brain swelling on the rise among unvaccinated kids with influenza (Bloomberg)
Susan Monarez faces daunting challenges as CDC director (The New York Times)

What People Think

Opinion related to health submitted to The Hill:

AI holds great promise for health care, and Trump's action plan is a good first step

You're all caught up. See you tomorrow!

Check out The Hill's Health Care page for the latest coverage.

Like this newsletter? Take a moment to view our other topical products here 📩

400 N Capitol Street NW Suite 650, Washington, DC 20001

If you believe this has been sent to you in error, please safely unsubscribe.

Liam Neeson’s Not-So-Secret Talents; Reality TV’s Return to Form; Behind the Summer’s Scariest Movie

View in browser | Update preferences

SUBSCRIBE FOR FULL ACCESS

MATTHEW LYNCH,
EXECUTIVE EDITOR

Reality TV has never exactly been a font of warm and fuzzy feeling—and it's far from a novel observation to note the genre delivered us to our current chaotic moment in history—but it's mellowed as a genre overall in middle age. That phase might be ending, critic Richard Lawson observes, thanks to one of the form's longest-running series, Project Runway, which seems to be getting its edge back.

Elsewhere today, we remember the late artist Robert Wilson; Anthony Breznican pulls back the curtain on director Zach Cregger's mysterious Weapons; and a certain bank CEO gets slightly cozier with the idea of a Zohran Mamdani mayorship.

Behind the Silent Marketing of Summer's Scariest Movie

BY ANTHONY BREZNICAN

While other movies are sharing as much as possible in an attempt to win a small piece of the ever shrinking attention economy, Weapons wants to become a phenomenon by playing keep-away. But what is Weapons, exactly? The enigmatic title alone has confounded people. The plot that's been revealed so far in trailers comes down to a question: Why did 17 children in a small town disappear into the darkness, never to return?

VF's Anthony Breznican chats with filmmaker Zach Cregger, who plans to keep his audience guessing, right up until his new movie's release date.

Read All About It

POLITICS

The Billionaire Who's Slowly Coming Around on Mamdani

BY BESS LEVIN

While it seems unlikely that JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon is going to start showing up to campaign events with Mamdani and urging New Yorkers to cast their vote for the guy, he does appear to have moderated his opinion on the candidate, if only slightly!

TELEVISION

Reality TV Is Getting Its Edge Back

BY RICHARD LAWSON

Gone are the days of the Simon Cowells and Michael Korses of reality competitions, but reality shows seem to be turning a corner from their more recent kid-glove approach.

FILM

No Liam Neeson, No Naked Gun

BY DEREK LAWRENCE

VF speaks with director Akiva Schaffer on making a "deceptively complex" comedy boosted by Neeson's specific talents: "I'm just trying not to say particular set of skills."

From the Archive

The Subject as Star

BY BOB COLACELLO

Robert Wilson, king of the avant-garde, multimedia performance event, died Thursday at age 83. While Wilson's work often displayed a fascination with royalty and absolute power, Bob Colacello wrote in the December 2006 issue, there was also tremendous sympathy for oppressed individuals.

Revisit the profile of the late Wilson, who spoke about the inspirations, methods, and technology behind his single-star productions, which showcased a rarefied group including Brad Pitt, Princess Caroline of Monaco, and Winona Ryder.