The Senate Saves PEPFAR Funding — For Now

The Senate narrowly approved the Trump administration’s request to claw back about $9 billion for humanitarian foreign aid projects and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting — but refused to cut funding for the international AIDS/HIV program PEPFAR. The House has a Friday deadline to approve the rescissions bill, or the funding remains in place.

Meanwhile, a federal appeals court ruled that West Virginia can ban the abortion pill mifepristone, which could allow states to block other drugs approved by the FDA.

Shefali Luthra of The 19th, Sandhya Raman of CQ Roll Call, and Joanne Kenen of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and Politico Magazine join KFF Health News’ Julie Rovner to discuss these stories and more. 

Plus, for “extra credit” the panelists suggest health policy stories they read this week that they think you should read, too: 

Julie Rovner: The New York Times’ “UnitedHealth’s Campaign to Quiet Critics,” by David Enrich.  

Joanne Kenen: The New Yorker’s “Can A.I. Find Cures for Untreatable Diseases — Using Drugs We Already Have?” by Dhruv Khullar.  

Shefali Luthra: The New York Times’ “Trump Official Accused PEPFAR of Funding Abortions in Russia. It Wasn’t True,” by Apoorva Mandavilli.  

Sandhya Raman: The Nation’s “‘We’re Creating Miscarriages With Medicine’: Abortion Lessons from Sweden,” by Cecilia Nowell.  

Visit our website to read a transcript of this episode.

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