Selena Simmons-Duffin
Appearances
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
Can it be a health policy question this time?
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
So I'm retired now. That's amazing.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
OK, well, there's two answers to that. I'm going to start with FDA does not love poppers just as a baseline, right? Like the FDA has been issuing consumer warnings about poppers for years, like pre-Kennedy at HHS, saying, you know, these are serious chemicals, like they can make you really sick.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
Especially warning people that they're often sold, as you mentioned, in bodegas like next to small bottles of like energy drinks that you drink saying, don't drink these guys, you'll get poisoned. There have been some reports that use is increasing and so also poisonings are increasing. So that might explain why the FDA is newly interested in poppers.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
Yeah, possibly. But I talked to an FDA law professor, Nathan Cortez, at Southern Methodist University. And I asked him, like, why would FDA suddenly get interested in poppers? And he was like, the FDA is so under-resourced that what they go after and why is truly random. Like, even in the best of times. Yeah.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
He said the decision to make an enforcement action on something that FDA thinks is maybe not good for consumers could be a staffer's cousin got sick and they looked into it. It's like really kind of arbitrary. Really, really arbitrary. And he's like, you know, FDA has gotten things wrong before. And the economic consequences of that have been huge.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
Like there was one year where they said, oh, I don't know about cranberries. Like there's something wrong with cranberries. Don't eat cranberries this Thanksgiving. And the whole industry tanked. So there is that. OK.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
The other side of it is that the elephant in the room, maybe the reason I think that a lot of people jumped on this report that FDA had come after this poppers company is because poppers is something that the new health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has mentioned. And he has said that poppers are the real cause of AIDS and HIV is not.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
That is not true. Right. It was a guess at the very, very, very, very beginning in the early 80s when healthy, young gay men were coming down with rare cancers. And it was really confusing. There was one paper published in The Lancet that said, you know, we noticed that some of the people who came down with this cancer had used poppers. And of course, it wasn't the poppers.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
It was that they were getting AIDS. I think it alarms a lot of people that the new health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has espoused this theory that is long, long, long, long, long debunked. There is also a video clip of him making this connection between poppers and AIDS, a connection that just does not exist.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
Again, to be clear, it's an undated video, but it started circulating on the Internet a couple of years ago.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
Yeah, I mean, I think that's a good point that Kennedy isn't the only one with these views, but he now has enforcement power, right? He's in charge of all of the health agencies of the federal government. And HIV groups were really concerned when he was just even announced as the nominee because of these statements that he had made in the past.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
There is some reporting that HIV prevention work at CDC is going to lose funding dramatically. And a lot of questions about how the global effort to reduce AIDS infections is going to look if the U.S., which has quite a high burden of HIV infections, is going to hold back from the prevention efforts that public health experts know actually does work.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
I mean, in the first Trump administration, HIV was a bipartisan issue. I mean, you would hear people who really, really wanted to crack down on abortion and trans rights say, but HIV care, like we really care about HIV. I never really truly, totally understood why that was.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
But I was curious to see if in the second Trump administration, HIV still had that bipartisan kind of acceptance halo around it. And I think there are starting to be some signs that the halo's gone and HIV could face the same fates as other health research and other prevention efforts that affect LGBTQ people.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
No, I've got a six-year-old and a nine-year-old at home, so I can't even remember the last time I did a thing that was fun.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
The other thing is it affects, like, people's joy, you know, like, fun. You know, for people who are facing all of these kind of political threats that, like, at least you can have your joy, your community, your party, your fun, like, hanging on to that feels even more important. And so I think that that might be another reason why this story kind of took off. Thank you.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
Oh, that sounds sad. No, I mean, but yeah, that's where I'm coming from.
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
Ooh, like are we playing matchmaker?
It's Been a Minute
Poppers, the FDA, & a crackdown decades in the making
I have a controversial one. Go for it. What if Joni Mitchell and Brandi Carlile were secretly dating?
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-15-2025 6AM EDT
Ten thousand staffers at HHS have been fired since Secretary Kennedy began leading the agency, with thousands more taking buyouts or early retirement. Here's Kennedy responding to a question about who decided which staff to cut.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 05-15-2025 6AM EDT
Lawmakers of both parties questioned the wisdom of shrinking the size of the National Institutes of Health, which Kennedy described as being corrupt and in need of a new direction. Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News, Washington.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-04-2024 7PM EST
About half of states ban gender-affirming care for youth. This is the first time the Supreme Court has considered whether these kinds of laws discriminate on the basis of sex. As attorneys for the plaintiffs in Tennessee made their arguments before the justices, hundreds gathered for dueling protests outside.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 12-04-2024 7PM EST
Tennessee lawmakers, conservative groups like the Alliance Defending Freedom, and others gathered to defend the ban. There were more people on the trans rights side of the barricades. A decision in the case is expected by the summer. Selina Simmons-Duffin, NPR News, Washington.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-19-2025 7PM EST
Residents of small towns and rural areas are more likely to rely on Medicaid than people living in cities. That's the key takeaway of a new report from the Georgetown Center for Children and Families. The center presented its findings Wednesday. Here's Benjamin Anderson, president of Hutchinson Regional Healthcare System in rural Kansas.
NPR News Now
NPR News: 01-19-2025 7PM EST
He said drastic Medicaid cuts from the federal government would be devastating for middle America. Selena Simmons-Duffin, NPR News.
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
It was so confusing. It was really unclear who had been cut, why they had been cut. The communication around the cuts was very difficult to understand. So one example of this is that the RIF notices went out in the very, very, very, very early morning of April 1st, and a lot of people missed them.
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
So they went to work as normal, tried to badge into the building, and found out their jobs had disappeared. There was no master plan showing this department's cut and that one's not. There's no explanation for why this team was cut and that one remains. So there was all of this crowdsourcing, trying to piece together who's still here, why, and what does it all mean.
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
So what is the rationale for all of these cuts? Well, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who's the Secretary of Health and Human Services, has described the department as a sprawling bureaucracy. He points to the fact that American life expectancy is lower here than it is in other similar wealthy countries, which is true. But then he puts the blame for that on these federal health agencies.
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
So that is the context. Kennedy is coming in here with a lot of distrust of these agencies. He wants to dramatically reshape them. He also has Doge and the Trump administration asking for bold actions to shrink the federal workforce. So overall, this plan that Kennedy outlined in late March and that these RIF notices were executing...
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
takes HHS from an agency of 82,000 employees down to 62,000 employees. That is a 25 percent reduction in the workforce.
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
I mean, as I said, there's really no master list. So what we have come to understand has, again, been this kind of weird crowdsourcing process. Whole centers at CDC were eliminated. Violence prevention, tobacco smoke, reproductive health, HIV prevention, workplace safety, including services for coal miners who get black lung disease. At FDA, food safety labs were hit.
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
The agency warned that it had to stop doing some routine quality control tests. The travel teams that send inspectors around the world were cut, throttling international inspections. So we here in America import a lot of food and medications, things that we consume. They're made in countries that are not always doing their own inspections.
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
So sometimes American regulators are the only people doing these inspections. And a lot of that has slowed down. What about other parts of HHS? Well, there's also the human services part. So there were cuts to the agency that helps elderly and disabled people live at home, supports for programs like Meals on Wheels and LIHEAP, which helps low income people pay their heating bills.
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
I should also point out that Billions of dollars have been cut in grants to state and local health departments. So the federal government's being sued over that.
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
But in the meantime, some of these public health departments like the one in Nashville, Tennessee and Harris County, Texas, are warning that they have had to scale back tracking disease outbreaks, including the measles outbreak that began in West Texas.
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
I think we have yet to see exactly how this is going to play out. And one reason for that is that some of these cuts haven't fully taken effect yet. Why? So the people who were fired on April 1st don't officially lose their jobs until June 2nd. Most people are at administrative leave, but some are actually working right now and kind of keeping wheels turning. Oh.
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
That means that some things are still functioning for now, but not for long. Okay. So here's an example. Food safety. Okay. You know when you hear about, be careful, there's salmonella. It's on the onions. Or the broccoli.
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
Or the spinach. Exactly. And it's being sold in these stores. And if you bought it between these dates, just— Throw it out. Yeah. So the labs that analyze those samples looking for those pathogens are really stretched right now. Mm-hmm. I talked to one scientist who says they're having trouble ordering supplies in a timely way so they can run experiments.
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
Some equipment they rely on is overdue for maintenance, and that could affect the quality of their work. And they've lost staff. They're overworked. They're worried about making mistakes. And if they can't do their work well and quickly, that means when there is an outbreak of something like salmonella on veggies sitting on the grocery shelves...
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
Scientists might not be able to find it in time, let people know, and more people could buy those things that are contaminated and get sick and maybe even die.
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
I don't think I can really truly answer that because I don't have a crystal ball. But I will say that I think that there are things that are going to be hitting people where they live that affect their quality of life in really profound and direct ways. You could have a lot of really angry people.
Short Wave
Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?
Whose hospitals just shut down because Medicaid was cut or who got really sick because their veggies were contaminated and they didn't find out in time. It seems like there is the potential that that could really backfire in terms of actually achieving what they say their goals are to make America healthy again.
Up First from NPR
Trump Meets Syria's President, Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks, RFK Jr. On Capitol Hill
Yeah. So in the morning, he's testifying in the House before the Appropriations Committee. And in the afternoon, he heads to the Senate. There, he'll testify before the Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. And the topic for both hearings is the president's budget proposal for HHS. Kennedy will explain why he wants less money for his department in the coming year.
Up First from NPR
Trump Meets Syria's President, Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks, RFK Jr. On Capitol Hill
And that's certainly connected to the Doge effort to shrink government. But Kennedy is also trying to fundamentally reshape the mission of HHS and reorient it to his priorities.
Up First from NPR
Trump Meets Syria's President, Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks, RFK Jr. On Capitol Hill
Yeah, he calls it a chronic disease epidemic. He even ties the size of HHS in terms of staff and budget with what he describes as the worsening health of the American population. As a reminder, HHS is the health umbrella agency, so it oversees CDC, the FDA, Medicaid and Medicare, the NIH. In April, Kennedy fired 10,000 staff members, eliminating whole centers and divisions across the department.
Up First from NPR
Trump Meets Syria's President, Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks, RFK Jr. On Capitol Hill
Here he is on NewsNation earlier this month defending those moves.
Up First from NPR
Trump Meets Syria's President, Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks, RFK Jr. On Capitol Hill
I should say the rollout of these firings has been chaotic and Kennedy has not seemed to be terribly familiar with what and who have been cut and what remains. He said the speed of the firings was necessary to not lose, quote, political momentum.
Up First from NPR
Trump Meets Syria's President, Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks, RFK Jr. On Capitol Hill
Well, definitely there'll be questions about the overhaul. As I said, whole centers at CDC were eliminated, including violence prevention, reproductive health, workplace safety, including services for coal miners with black lung. At FDA, food safety labs were hit. Some routine inspections have been delayed or canceled.
Up First from NPR
Trump Meets Syria's President, Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks, RFK Jr. On Capitol Hill
And even though the overhaul was billed as being about administrative redundancies, many core functions of the agency, including those required by Congress, are now in limbo. And lawmakers may have a lot of questions about that. There are other big questions, too, like measles in West Texas is still a big problem. There are growing concerns about bird flu.
Up First from NPR
Trump Meets Syria's President, Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks, RFK Jr. On Capitol Hill
Kennedy's approach to autism, I'm sure, will be asked about. And the cuts to biomedical research will definitely come up as well. This isn't just shrinking the staff and budget of the National Institutes of Health. It's also slashing funding to universities. And that research can be an economic driver in communities all over the country, including in red states like Alabama.
Up First from NPR
Trump Meets Syria's President, Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks, RFK Jr. On Capitol Hill
So I'm curious to hear whether there's a bipartisan objection to Kennedy's moves there.
Up First from NPR
Trump Meets Syria's President, Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks, RFK Jr. On Capitol Hill
Yeah, I actually reached three former secretaries. One of the ones I talked to was Tommy Thompson. He was secretary under President George W. Bush. He said he didn't want to criticize Kennedy for making cuts, but... I wish they would learn a little bit more. He said it's up to Congress to decide whether all of these cuts should stay.
Up First from NPR
Trump Meets Syria's President, Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks, RFK Jr. On Capitol Hill
And we'll know a lot more after hearing from lawmakers how much they plan to push back on Kennedy's overhaul.
Up First from NPR
Trump Meets Syria's President, Russia-Ukraine Peace Talks, RFK Jr. On Capitol Hill
Thank you.
Up First from NPR
Canada's Prime Minister Meets Trump, Abortion Lawsuit Surprise, Film Tariffs
Well, it's challenging the Food and Drug Administration's rules about mifepristone, which is one of the pills used for medication abortion. It's also used to manage miscarriages. And if you're thinking, didn't the Supreme Court already reject that case? You would be right, kind of. The justices last year rejected the original challenge brought by a group of Christian doctors.
Up First from NPR
Canada's Prime Minister Meets Trump, Abortion Lawsuit Surprise, Film Tariffs
But now three states, Missouri, Idaho, and Kansas, have intervened. They're arguing essentially they can't ban abortion if residents can receive this medication through the mail. So they're taking up this challenge to FDA's decisions about medication abortion again.
Up First from NPR
Canada's Prime Minister Meets Trump, Abortion Lawsuit Surprise, Film Tariffs
Yeah, exactly. They took that position in a filing on Monday. And this was a bit surprising because that's the same position the Biden administration's Justice Department had made. And you might not expect a lot of continuity when it comes to abortion between these two administrations.
Up First from NPR
Canada's Prime Minister Meets Trump, Abortion Lawsuit Surprise, Film Tariffs
Yeah, I don't think that's necessarily what it means. That's in part because the federal judge in Texas who's presiding, Judge Matthew Kesmarek, is known to be very receptive to anti-abortion arguments. So this case might continue regardless of what the Trump administration wants to do.
Up First from NPR
Canada's Prime Minister Meets Trump, Abortion Lawsuit Surprise, Film Tariffs
Also, this is not the only tool in the Trump administration's toolbox when it comes to restricting abortion cases. Katie Keith is the director of the Georgetown Center for Health Policy and the Law and formerly served on Biden's Gender Policy Council. I would say the jury is still out, essentially, of how aggressive the Trump administration is going to be on medication abortion.
Up First from NPR
Canada's Prime Minister Meets Trump, Abortion Lawsuit Surprise, Film Tariffs
She says if they want to restrict access, they could. For example, the Trump administration's FDA could just go ahead and add restrictions on who can get this medication and how without being required to by the court.
Up First from NPR
Canada's Prime Minister Meets Trump, Abortion Lawsuit Surprise, Film Tariffs
You know, it's hard to predict. The new FDA commissioner, Marty McCary, said publicly in April there were, quote, no plans for FDA to restrict mifeprostone, but plans can change. This is a medication that's been approved for almost 25 years. It's been found to be safe and effective in ending a pregnancy, along with another medication called misoprostol. And it's a medication that's used globally.
Up First from NPR
Canada's Prime Minister Meets Trump, Abortion Lawsuit Surprise, Film Tariffs
The World Health Organization says it can be used safely in the first trimester of pregnancy without the direct supervision of a healthcare provider. The FDA here in this country made the same determination. And what's happened since Roe v. Wade was overturned nearly three years ago
Up First from NPR
Canada's Prime Minister Meets Trump, Abortion Lawsuit Surprise, Film Tariffs
is that half of states have banned abortion, but the total number of abortions nationally has gone up, in part because people have been able to get this medication through the mail. There are a lot of ways that the Trump administration could try to tamp down on that outside of this court case if it wants to, and that's what remains to be seen.
Up First from NPR
Canada's Prime Minister Meets Trump, Abortion Lawsuit Surprise, Film Tariffs
You're welcome.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
Morning, Michelle.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
Well, what happened is that scientists around the country started getting emails yesterday about travel and meetings that had been set up being suddenly canceled with very little explanation. Remember, NIH is the largest public funder of biomedical research in the world.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
It invests more than $40 billion in research every year, and it gathers together scientists outside the agency into what are called study sections to help them figure out how to spend that money, what research is the most important to fund.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
Dr. Crystal Starbird is a cancer researcher and a professor at UNC Chapel Hill, and yesterday she got an email about her study section that was scheduled for next week.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
Well, Dr. Starbird told me that these are not the kinds of meetings that can easily be rescheduled. There are a lot of moving parts, different institutions, different timetables, and a delay, especially an indefinite delay like this one, could really have a negative impact on important cancer research.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
The full scope of these cancellations isn't clear at this point, but a lot of scientists are concerned that biomedical research of all kinds could be disrupted.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
We don't know yet if it's related, but yes, the acting HHS secretary on Tuesday sent a memo instructing the leaders of NIH and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Food and Drug Administration, all the other health agencies to refrain from most external communication until they can be approved by, quote, a presidential appointee.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
NPR obtained that memo and several internal emails that indicate travel is suspended for HHS staffers as well. In addition to the government-wide hiring freeze, So workers I've heard from at HHS are quite concerned about all of this. Several said they weren't sure if information in papers that were set to be submitted and published this week will be delayed.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
So we're waiting to see if infectious disease dashboards will be updated on schedule. And, you know, Michelle, looming over all of this is the fact that in Trump's first term, there were instances where of political appointees attempting to alter CDC reports on COVID-19.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
So some worry that these developments are a sign that political appointees intend to exert a new kind of control on the federal health and research agencies.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
Well, his confirmation hearing was just scheduled for next Wednesday. There has been a big lobbying effort to block his confirmation. It's not clear if he does have the support in the Senate to be confirmed, particularly because of his positions in favor of abortion access and against vaccine requirements.
Up First from NPR
Immigration Crackdown, Health Officials Muted, Oscar Nominations
And adding to that uncertainty is an ethics document posted online yesterday that appears to show Kennedy can still financially benefit from lawsuits against Merck's vaccine that prevents cervical cancer. So definitely it's going to be an interesting hearing next week, and I'll be here to cover it.
Up First from NPR
FBI Director Wray To Step Down, U.S. Life Expectancy, DNC Seeks New Leadership
At first, the targeted killing of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson triggered a flood of posts about America's health insurance industry.
Up First from NPR
FBI Director Wray To Step Down, U.S. Life Expectancy, DNC Seeks New Leadership
And that is something NPR's Selena Simmons-Duffin has reported on a lot. So she's here to tell us more about it. Selena, how long are Americans expected to live for?
Up First from NPR
FBI Director Wray To Step Down, U.S. Life Expectancy, DNC Seeks New Leadership
OK, so what more does that figure tell us, though?
Up First from NPR
FBI Director Wray To Step Down, U.S. Life Expectancy, DNC Seeks New Leadership
And what do Democrats want from their next party chair? The Democratic National Committee is meeting in Washington over the next two days to reflect on the election results and hear pitches from candidates. Stay with us. We've got all the news you need to start your day.
Up First from NPR
FBI Director Wray To Step Down, U.S. Life Expectancy, DNC Seeks New Leadership
Outside of the health care space. So, you know, what are those factors?
Up First from NPR
FBI Director Wray To Step Down, U.S. Life Expectancy, DNC Seeks New Leadership
But I heard Dr. Wolf mention the firearm industry. So what role does gun violence play?
Up First from NPR
FBI Director Wray To Step Down, U.S. Life Expectancy, DNC Seeks New Leadership
That's NPR's health policy correspondent, Selina Simmons-Duffett. Thank you very much.
Up First from NPR
FBI Director Wray To Step Down, U.S. Life Expectancy, DNC Seeks New Leadership
The next chair of the Democratic National Committee will have their work cut out for them.
Up First from NPR
FBI Director Wray To Step Down, U.S. Life Expectancy, DNC Seeks New Leadership
Director Christopher Wray is resigning. President-elect Trump appointed him in 2017, but now he wants a nominee who promised retribution for Trump's critics.
Up First from NPR
FBI Director Wray To Step Down, U.S. Life Expectancy, DNC Seeks New Leadership
NPR's Stephen Fowler has been talking with Democrats across the country about last month's election results and also about what might come next. So, Stephen, the future of the Democratic Party is probably not going to be solved in the next few months, but its leader will be. What's that process going to look like?
Up First from NPR
FBI Director Wray To Step Down, U.S. Life Expectancy, DNC Seeks New Leadership
So with that kind of power, though, I mean, what do these Democrats want from their next party chair?
Up First from NPR
FBI Director Wray To Step Down, U.S. Life Expectancy, DNC Seeks New Leadership
President-elect Trump appointed Christopher Wray during his first term back in 2017, but now Trump wants to nominate a loyalist, Kash Patel, and made it clear he wants Wray to go. The director says he will step down at the end of the Biden administration next month and three years before the end of his term.
Up First from NPR
FBI Director Wray To Step Down, U.S. Life Expectancy, DNC Seeks New Leadership
Stephen, I mean, right after the election, there was a lot of finger pointing about what went wrong and what could be changed. So it's been a month. How are Democrats feeling now?
Up First from NPR
FBI Director Wray To Step Down, U.S. Life Expectancy, DNC Seeks New Leadership
That's NPR's Stephen Fowler in Atlanta. Stephen, good to talk to you again. Thank you. And that's up first for Thursday, December 12th. I'm Amy Martinez.
Up First from NPR
FBI Director Wray To Step Down, U.S. Life Expectancy, DNC Seeks New Leadership
Today's episode of Up First was edited by Anna Yukoninoff, Diane Weber, Megan Pratz, H.J. Mai, and Alice Wolfley. It was produced by Zia Butch, Nia Dumas, and Ben Abrams. You get engineering support from Nisha Hines, and our technical director is Carly Strange. Join us again tomorrow.
Up First from NPR
ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
Well, Secretary Kennedy says HHS is a huge bureaucracy filled with silos and that he wants to streamline things. Here he is in a video he posted to social media.
Up First from NPR
ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
He says they'll do that by consolidating administrative work like IT and human resources, but that the restructuring won't affect the work the agencies do. Kennedy draws a direct line between the problems with America's overall health and the way HHS has been set up.
Up First from NPR
ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
My inbox was flooded with shocked responses yesterday from Democratic lawmakers, nurses groups, public health groups, advocates for seniors. They say this isn't an overhaul, it's a wrecking ball. I asked former HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for her reaction. She was incredulous that Kennedy thinks he can cut HHS staff so steeply and not affect services.
Up First from NPR
ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
She was especially critical of the plan to cut the number of regional offices from 10 to 5 and to combine certain agencies. Like she questioned how it would help efficiency to combine CDC, which is in Atlanta, with the Strategic Preparedness Agency, which is in D.C.
Up First from NPR
ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
It looks like the steepest cuts are coming from CDC and FDA, also a lesser known agency called the Administration for Community Living, which helps seniors and people with disabilities live independently. They do work like meal delivery, transportation support for caregivers.
Up First from NPR
ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
Under the plans, that agency will be dismantled and its, quote, critical services will get spread out over a few different agencies. So employees whose jobs are getting cut could get notices as soon as today with the cuts effective in May. And HHS did not respond to NPR's request for an interview with Secretary Kennedy or give answers to a list of questions about the plans.
Up First from NPR
ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
Republican lawmakers have been fairly quiet so far, especially compared to Democratic members of Congress who have quickly put together press conferences, quote, sounding the alarm about this plan. Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana, the Republican chair of the Health Committee, did not respond to NPR's request for comment.
Up First from NPR
ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
What Republicans have said is that the details aren't out yet, that they believe there is administrative sprawl at HHS, that it can be streamlined, and that they trust Kennedy.
Up First from NPR
ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
You're welcome.
Up First from NPR
ICE Student Arrests, HHS Cuts, Stefanik Nomination Pulled, China Trade City
I have been proud to be a team player. The president knows that.