Rep. Mike Flood faces backlash at town hall in Nebraska
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
American Press
10 minutes ago
- American Press
25 states file legal brief defending Trump ban on youth sex change procedures
On Monday, Louisiana Attorney General Liz Murrill joined 24 other Republican attorneys general in backing President Donald Trump's executive order aimed at halting federal funding for sex change procedures on minors, marking the state's latest push in a broader legal fight over transgender care. Three days earlier, Massachusetts filed a brief joined by 19 states challenging the same executive order. The states argue the order is unconstitutional, discriminatory, and violates the Spending Clause by tying federal health funds to ideological conditions. The Massachusetts-led brief contends that the order jeopardizes care for transgender youth, strips states of medical decision-making authority, and undermines long-standing Medicaid protections. The suit seeks a declaratory judgment and permanent injunction against implementation. The attorneys general defending the Trump order, led by Alabama's Steve Marshall, filed amicus briefs in the 4th and 9th U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals, supporting Trump's order and urging the courts to overturn preliminary injunctions issued earlier this year in lawsuits out of Washington and Maryland. The Alabama-led briefs argue that continuing to fund such procedures violates both medical ethics and constitutional principles. 'Even though President Trump is in office, common sense and constitutional principles are under constant assault by radical leftist groups like the ACLU,' said Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, who is leading the coalition. Marshall accused the ACLU of pushing courts to 'force taxpayers to fund sex-change procedures on children.' Murrill, who has been an outspoken critic of so-called 'gender-affirming' care for minors, did not release a separate public statement, but her participation in the brief underscores Louisiana's alignment with a growing number of Republican-led states that seek to limit access to such treatments. In recent years, Louisiana's Legislature has passed bans on puberty blockers and hormone treatments for minors. According to the coalition's legal filings, the brief draws on findings from Alabama's discovery in a now-dismissed challenge to its own ban on 'gender-affirming' care, where Marshall's office claimed to uncover a coordinated effort to remove age restrictions from national medical guidelines — a move he described as politically motivated rather than science-based. The Alabama-led team argues that federal funding for 'gender-affirming' care is based on 'discredited standards' and that such medical interventions for minors have irreversible consequences. 'The evidence says otherwise,' Marshall said. 'These harmful interventions have lasting consequences for vulnerable children.' The Alabama-led brief was filed in both the 9th Circuit and 4th Circuit federal courts of appeal. Louisiana was joined by attorneys general from Alaska, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming in addition to Louisiana. The filings are part of a broader conservative legal strategy seeking to bolster state laws banning so-called 'gender-affirming' care while reinforcing Trump-era federal policy that frames such care as medically unnecessary and ideologically driven.
Time Magazine
11 minutes ago
- Time Magazine
GOP-Led House Panel Subpoenas Epstein Files and Testimony From Clintons
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee subpoenaed the Justice Department on Tuesday for files related to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, despite resistance from House GOP leadership and growing unease within the Trump Administration over the political and legal implications of such disclosures. The subpoena calls for the Justice Department to turn over all investigative materials related to Epstein's decades-long sex trafficking operation, with victims' identities redacted. The Committee also issued a broad array of subpoenas for deposition testimony from high-profile figures across both Democratic and Republican administrations—among them former President Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former FBI Directors James Comey and Robert Mueller, and six former U.S. attorneys general, including Merrick Garland and William Barr. The latest activity from the Committee follows Justice Department officials interviewing Epstein's former associate Ghislaine Maxwell, and then Maxwell being moved to a minimum-security facility in Texas. "While the Department undertakes efforts to uncover and publicly disclose additional information related to Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell's cases, it is imperative that Congress conduct oversight of the federal government's enforcement of sex trafficking laws generally and specifically its handling of the investigation and prosecution of Mr. Epstein and Ms. Maxwell," Rep. James Comer, the Oversight Chair, wrote in a subpoena to Attorney General Pam Bondi. The subpoenas come nearly two weeks after one of the panel's subcommittees voted to compel the Justice Department to release the files, just before the House left for its summer recess. House Speaker Mike Johnson publicly resisted the effort, arguing the Administration needs 'room to act' before Congress intervenes. But the committee's decision to subpoena the Justice Department shows that interest in the Epstein files remains high among Republicans, even as President Donald Trump has repeatedly tried to move past the Justice Department's decision not to release a full accounting of the investigation. A July memo from the Justice Department stated that Epstein died by suicide and that no 'client list' of abusers had been recovered—a conclusion that has only deepened suspicion among conspiracy-minded conservatives and Democrats alike. Democrats first pushed to subpoena the Justice Department for its files on Epstein, and were joined by three Republicans to initiate the subpoena in July. The Justice Department will have until Aug. 19 to hand over the requested records. The committee is also requesting that the former government officials appear for depositions between August and October, concluding with Hillary Clinton on Oct. 9 and Bill Clinton on Oct. 14. While former Presidents have often been subpoenaed, none have ever appeared before lawmakers under compulsion. Clinton's association with Epstein has been publicly known for years and included travel on his plane after he left office, according to court records. The Wall Street Journal reported last month that a book assembled for Epstein's 50th birthday in 2003 included a message from Clinton, as well as Trump and others. Both Clinton and Trump were listed as 'friends' in the book. Trump has denied writing the letter and sued the Wall Street Journal. A spokesperson for Clinton said in 2019 that he cut off ties with Epstein prior to his 2019 arrest and was unaware of Epstein's alleged crimes.
Politico
11 minutes ago
- Politico
Will feds weigh in on religious vax carveouts?
Driving the Day RELIGIOUS VAX EXEMPTIONS — It's back-to-school season, which means parents are shuttling their kids to pediatricians for annual checkups — and advocates for and against states' exemptions to vaccine mandates for school entry are gearing up for a fight, Lauren reports. Vaccine skeptics have sought to make their case to the Trump administration's Religious Liberty Commission — created by executive order in May — for executive action to bolster religious carve-outs. But they face pushback from public health experts who warn that more exemptions could threaten public health, setting up another front in the vaccine wars. Four states — California, Connecticut, Maine and New York — don't offer religious exemptions to school vaccine requirements, and Massachusetts lawmakers are considering banning them. West Virginia provides exemptions after GOP Gov. Patrick Morrisey signed an executive order earlier this year invoking the state's religious freedom law. Some religious liberty groups have called on the federal government — which has no say in state vaccine mandates — to use federal education funding as leverage to expand religious opt-outs from school immunization requirements, pointing to a Clinton-era religious protection statute. Precedential web: Some vaccine law experts question how far the executive branch could go to nudge those outlier states toward accepting religious exemptions. The Supreme Court curtailed the Religious Freedom Restoration Act's application to the states in 1997, and administrative conditions on federal funding can't run afoul of Congress' directions. But proponents say those lawyers ignore more recent opinions that work in exemption advocates' favor, pointing to a Covid-19-era decision lifting in-home gathering restrictions on religious grounds and, more recently, the court's ruling in favor of parents who want to opt their children out of LGBTQ+-themed lessons in public schools. Shifting winds: The number of kindergarteners entering school with at least one vaccine exemption continues to tick up, with the CDC reporting last week that 3.6 percent had one in the 2024-2025 school year, compared with 2.2 percent a decade ago. Days before the updated data was released, the American Academy of Pediatrics reaffirmed its opposition to religious exemptions, arguing they should be abolished to protect public health. 'In practice, nonmedical exceptions based on religious belief can substantially limit the public health value of vaccine requirements for school attendance,' the group said in a statement. 'There is no practicable way for schools or other involved community partners to distinguish fairly among religious or other nonmedical claims.' What's next: The Religious Liberty Commission will hold a hearing next month on public education issues, giving exemption proponents another opening to make their case. It's unclear where the White House stands on the concept — a spokesperson didn't comment — but the first Trump administration's HHS pursued avenues to grant health care workers expanded 'conscience' protections and to allow imports of certain vaccines due to some patients' religious beliefs. IT'S TUESDAY. WELCOME BACK TO PRESCRIPTION PULSE. Your host is wondering whether concerns about a common allergy medicine's risks might catch the FDA's attention. Send tips to David Lim (dlim@ @davidalim or davidalim.49 on Signal) and Lauren Gardner (lgardner@ @Gardner_LM or gardnerlm.01 on Signal). Eye on the FDA NEW TOP LAWYER — FDA Commissioner Marty Makary named a longtime government attorney on Monday to be the agency's chief counsel, months after his first pick was torpedoed by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.). Sean Keveney, who most recently served as HHS's acting general counsel, served as a career civil servant at DOJ's civil rights division before becoming deputy general counsel at HHS in 2019, according to the department and his LinkedIn profile. His predecessor in the position, Hilary Perkins, was also a career DOJ lawyer whose appointment drew Hawley's ire before Makary's confirmation because of her record defending the Biden administration's abortion pill policies. While Perkins also defended the Trump FDA's mifepristone positions, that wasn't enough to overcome his opposition, and she ultimately stepped down days into the job. MDUFA KICKOFF — The FDA's medical device user fee program is not set to expire until Sept. 30, 2027, but the process to renew it has already begun. Despite HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s vocal distaste for the user fee programs, the Trump administration has made it clear they are committed to the monthslong process that will likely result in their renewal for another five years. Industry and FDA leaders — including FDA Commissioner Marty Makary and Center for Devices and Radiological Health Director Michelle Tarver — met Monday to discuss the potential sixth iteration of the medical device user fee program. 'While user fees support timeliness and predictability by providing FDA with additional resources, user fees are not a guarantee of approval,' AdvaMed's senior executive vice president, Janet Trunzo, said according to prepared remarks. 'They never have been, and they never should be.' In Congress SENATE PASSES FDA FUNDING — Before leaving town for the August recess, the Senate passed a bill to fund the FDA for fiscal 2026 as part of a minibus package by an 87-9 vote. The legislation, which funds the agency at $7 billion, is made up of $3.6 billion in taxpayer funds and $3.4 billion in user fee revenues. But it is unclear whether lawmakers will have to turn to a continuing resolution before government funding runs out at the end of September. The House Appropriations Committee previously advanced an FDA bill that funded the agency at a lower level. Research Corner BOOST FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH — The Gates Foundation said Monday it would spend $2.5 billion through 2030 to speed global women's research into maternal, menstrual, gynecological and sexual health. Pharma Moves Erika Sward is now chief advocacy officer at UsAgainstAlzheimer's. She previously was assistant vice president of national advocacy at the American Lung Association. Document Drawer FDA Commissioner Marty Makary met with Rep. John Joyce (R-Pa.) for an introductory meeting on July 24. He also met with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals to discuss nonanimal testing approaches on July 21, according to newly posted public calendar disclosures. He also met with the leadership team of the Government Accountability Office on July 16 to discuss 'items of mutual interest.' WHAT WE'RE READING Top FDA cancer medicine regulator Richard Pazdur played a critical role in the rejection of Replimune Group's skin cancer therapy, STAT's Adam Feuerstein reports. Longevity companies are eyeing Montana as a potential hub for 'biohacking' treatments thanks to state laws embracing patients' 'right-to-try' experimental drugs, The Wall Street Journal's Alex Janin writes.
