Highlights from 4 articles in the Associated Press today:

Article “Here’s where jobs and programs are being cut at the nation’s top health agencies”

https://apnews.com/article/trump-hhs-cdc-fda-nih-cms-layoffs-5aba829b829d9e1a0167c4a0d968aadb 

1. Thousands of people responsible for tracking health trends and disease outbreaks, conducting and funding medical research, monitoring the safety of food and medicine, and administering health insurance programs for nearly half of the country were laid off Tuesday at the nation’s top health agencies.
   1. The moves will shrink the Department of Health and Human Services to 62,000 positions, lopping off nearly a quarter of its staff.
   2. The cuts include researchers, scientists, doctors, support staff and senior leaders, leaving the federal government without many of the key experts who have long guided U.S. decisions on medical research, drug approvals and other issues.
   3. FDA is losing workers “who review new drug and medical implants, set policy for electronic cigarettes and tobacco products as well as the entire press office staff. The agency’s top tobacco regulator was removed from his post, along with several of his deputies.”
   4. The National Institute of Health (NIH) is the world’s leading medical research agency — funding research into cancer, Alzheimer’s, HIV and other devastating diseases… has lost 1,200 jobs on Tuesday plus 1,000 NIH employees recently fired, both scientists and staff who administer billions in research funding. The administration also has canceled hundreds of NIH grants to scientists around the country.
   5. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid (CMS) which oversees Medicare, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act marketplace, is cutting 300 jobs. Reported cuts so far have focused on the agency’s Office of Minority Health, Office of Equal Rights and Opportunity as well as the Office of Program Operations & Local Engagement.

2. Article “FACT FOCUS: Warren Buffett did not praise Trump’s recent economic policies”

   1. https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-warren-buffett-trump-tariffs-video-52e6b63bd770e73ca54eae7a0c7bbcc3

3. Article  “Senate up late voting on GOP tax breaks and spending cuts plan that’s central to Trump agenda”

   1. https://apnews.com/article/senate-budget-tax-cuts-trump-485845a9c0b7dfc5d2194d4c1e4723ae
   2. …opposition from Democrats, who are unified against what they decry as tax breaks for the wealthy at the expense of federal programs Americans rely on.
   3. And Republican Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky, the lone GOP opponent to the plan so far, questioned the math being used by his colleagues that he said would pile on the debt load. “Something’s fishy,” he said.

4. Article  “Trump administration issues demands on Harvard as conditions for billions in federal money”

   1. https://apnews.com/article/harvard-antisemitism-demands-columbia-84d6265d2fbfcd5534006edff638160e
   2. The government’s letter is a “dominance test,” not an effort to fight antisemitism, said Kirsten Weld, a Harvard history professor and president of the campus chapter of the American Association of University Professors.