Tag: hhs

HHS Expands Criteria for Embattled CDC Vaccine Panel — What Does It Mean?

Federal health officials have expanded the criteria for eligibility to serve on the panel that advised the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on vaccines, according to a notice about the committee’s renewed charter published today in the Federal Register.

The move fueled speculation that U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may soon reconstitute the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) with members of his choosing, The New York Times reported.

Last month, a federal judge froze ACIP and disbanded its members. In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Brian E. Murphy wrote that some ACIP members chosen by Kennedy last year lacked the legally required expertise in vaccines.

CHD appealed the ruling and asked the court for an emergency order to stay, or freeze, Murphy’s order.

CHD also appealed Murphy’s denial of the nonprofit’s motion to intervene in the case brought by the American Academy of Pediatrics against Kennedy and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The court has yet to rule on CHD’s request.

Now that HHS has changed the expertise criteria, Kennedy could rebuild the committee by bringing back some of the disbanded members — even without appealing the judge’s ruling, according to the Times.

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White House Proposes 12.5 Percent Cut in Budget for Health and Human Services

The White House on April 3 floated a reduction in spending for health agencies, including nearly $7 billion less for an agency that runs a program for young children.

The White House in its budget proposal to Congress asked for $111.1 billion for the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and its divisions for fiscal year 2027.

If accepted, that funding would be a 12.5 percent decrease from the $126.9 billion lawmakers approved for HHS in fiscal year 2026.

Fiscal year 2027 begins on Oct. 1 and will run through Sept. 30, 2027.

President Donald Trump has asked for $441 billion more for defense and is proposing $73 billion in cuts across non-defense areas.

“The 2027 Budget builds on the President’s vision by continuing to constrain non-defense spending and reform the Federal Government,” Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought wrote to Congress.

HHS cuts would primarily be made to the Administration for Children, Families, and Communities, which runs the Head Start child care program for young children from poorer families. The $6.9 billion in savings would be realized by ending grant programs, including some for preschools and some that help certain households pay for utilities.

The White House said in its proposal that the energy assistance program is not necessary “because States have policies preventing utility disconnection for low-income households, effectively making [the program] a passthrough benefiting utility companies, particularly in the Northeast.”

The administration also wants less money for caring for illegal immigrant minors who arrive at the border without a responsible adult. The reduction in funding “reflects the Administration’s successful efforts to secure the border and minimize the number of” those minors entering the country, HHS said in its budget proposal justification.

Another major cut would apply to the National Institutes of Health, which the administration said should receive $41.2 billion, a decrease of nearly $5 billion from the current fiscal year.

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HHS Changes Voicemail to Domino’s Pizza to Mock Taxpayers Demanding End to NIH Kitten and Beagle Experiments

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is facing backlash after a “rogue employee” allegedly changed the agency’s public voicemail to a Domino’s Pizza recording, trolling taxpayers who flooded the lines demanding an end to ongoing NIH-funded cat and dog torture experiments.

White Coat Waste Project, the bipartisan watchdog group that has long exposed wasteful government animal testing, urged supporters to call HHS this week over continued funding for cruel kitten experiments at a taxpayer-supported lab at the University of Missouri, which was covered by The Gateway Pundit.

Instead of reaching agency officials, callers heard: “Thank you for calling Domino’s Pizza.”

WCW Senior Vice President Justin Goodman exposed the sick “prank” during a Senate hearing on Wednesday.

“Torturing puppies with our tax dollars isn’t funny, but people at HHS apparently think it is,” Goodman said.

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If This Is True, the DNC Has a Moral Earthquake Coming

Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem testified that the Biden administration funneled cash to sponsors who trafficked and abused unaccompanied migrant children. 

Federal dollars poured through the Department of Health and Human Services right into the pockets of adults escaping screening, meaning many of those people ended up as outright predators.

The Office of Refugee Resettlement dumped kids into homes without solid background checks, skipped consistent DNA testing, and ignored follow-ups that could’ve kept them safe. Nearly 450,000 kids cycled through the system, many of whom disappeared after sloppy placements.

If Noem slams down documented proof linking this mess straight to federal blunders, the Democratic National Committee can’t spin its way out of a disaster this horrible.

You know they’ll try with help from their MSM friends. But finding evil like child trafficking with taxpayer money? That’s not just incompetence; it’s downright wicked.

The Biden crew ditched widespread DNA testing at the border, which used to confirm if adults were really family. They watered down background checks as millions flooded in.

Sponsors snagged multiple kids from a single address, no questions asked. Federal contracts ballooned, including fat no-bid deals worth hundreds of millions to groups handling migrant youth.

Andrew Lorenzen-Strait, former Biden transition official and senior advisor in immigration ops, helped craft those deals. Billions in grants zipped through DHS while checks lagged.

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‘We’ve Addicted Our Farmers’ to Glyphosate, RFK Jr. Tells Joe Rogan

U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called glyphosate a “poison” embedded in America’s food supply, even as he backed President Donald Trump’s executive order expanding its domestic production.

Speaking Feb. 27 on “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Kennedy emphasized his decades-long fight against pesticides. “Pesticides are poison. They’re designed to kill all life. It’s not a good thing to have in your food,” he said.

Yet he defended the president’s executive order as a national security measure.

Trump signed the order in February to boost U.S. production of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto’s Roundup weedkiller. Bayer acquired Monsanto in 2018 and now faces tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging Roundup exposure caused cancer.

Hours after the order, Kennedy told The New York Times, “Donald Trump’s executive order puts America first where it matters most — our defense readiness and our food supply.” Days later, Kennedy posted on X, explaining his position.

On Rogan’s show, Kennedy said industry reports show that 99% of U.S. glyphosate supplies come from China. U.S. Department of Defense officials warned that dependence poses “an extreme national security vulnerability,” he said. A supply disruption “could literally cut off our food supply overnight and cripple the country.”

“The president was dealing with national security,” Kennedy said.

The executive order also grants legal immunity to domestic manufacturers compelled under the Defense Production Act of 1950 to produce glyphosate-related products. The law allows the federal government to require companies to produce materials deemed necessary for national security.

Bayer is the only company manufacturing glyphosate in the U.S.

Kennedy criticized the liability protections. “It’s not something that I was particularly happy with. Let me put it that way mildly,” he said.

He warned that immunity “takes away all incentive for them to make the product safer.”

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HHS finds Minnesota child care agency failed to verify attendance records and ‘pursue fraud tips’

The US Department of Health and Human Services found Minnesota’s child care agency failed to adequately verify attendance records or “pursue fraud tips” following an oversight visit in late January, according to a letter obtained by The Post.

HHS’ Administration for Children and Families informed Minnesota officials that its handling of the distribution of federal taxpayer dollars for child care in the state had “not established adequate controls to verify the accuracy of county-issued provider payments based on attendance of children.”

As a result, child care centers could get funding from counties — and counties could then bill the state and the federal government by extension — “without reconciling billed hours against attendance records, even periodically.”

Minnesota’s Department of Children, Youth and Families also had “[l]imited staff and resources … to adequately pursue fraud tips and conduct proactive investigations,” Laurie Todd-Smith, HHS ACF deputy assistant secretary for early childhood development, wrote in the letter.

Just four investigators are working for Minnesota’s Child Care Assistance Program to address all potential fraud.

Additionally, Todd-Smith said, “Minnesota did not demonstrate that they are currently implementing required program integrity training for providers across the state,” meaning all child care center operators have to do is affirm they’ve read requirements to receive funding.

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California Planning to Sue Trump Admin Over Revised Child Vaccine Guidelines, Bonta Says

California Attorney General Rob Bonta said on Feb. 17 that the state plans to take legal action against the Trump administration over the recent modifications to the childhood vaccine schedule.

The CDC on Jan. 5, with backing from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., narrowed the number of vaccines routinely recommended by the childhood schedule.

Bonta told Reuters in an interview that he has mobilized his team to identify the necessary details for a possible complaint against the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), including jurisdiction and legal grounds for pursuing the lawsuit.

“I like the facts. I like science. I don’t want to give any airtime to his—I mean, just conspiracy [expletive],” Bonta told the news agency, referring to Kennedy’s stance on vaccines.

Bonta did not specify when the state might file or whether it would be a multistate filing. Connecticut Attorney General William Tong, who also spoke to Reuters, indicated his state may join California in the filing.

The Epoch Times reached out to HHS for comment but did not receive a response by publication time.

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HHS Releases Medicaid Dataset to Crowdsource Fraud Detection

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has released a massive data set related to health care spending. 

The release follows rampant fraud exposed in multiple government programs, including programs meant to feed hungry kids, help autistic kids, get kids into daycare, and help people find housing. One prosecutor alleged that criminals stole up to $9 billion across 14 social programs in Minnesota. 

If you have a computer with enough memory to download the data set and find fraud, then you could even get paid to expose fraud, according to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. 

The Treasury Department will set up a website to report fraud where whistleblowers can receive part of the fine, Secretary Scott Bessent said.

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FDA Removes Web Content Saying Cellphones Are Harmless – HHS Launches Study

Without fanfare, the Food and Drug Administration has deleted multiple web pages asserting that cellphones are not dangerous. First reported by the Wall Street Journal, the move comes as the Department of Health and Human Services has begun a new investigation into potential health effects of cellphone radiation.

HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr has previously declared that cellphones are causing harms that are not yet fully acknowledged. “There’s cellphone tumors. I’m representing hundreds of people who have cellphone tumors behind the ear. It’s always on the ear that you favor with your cellphone…We have the science,” Kennedy said in a 2023 appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience. “You should never put one next to your head… I put it on speakerphone or use earphones.” 

Responding to a Journal inquiry about the change to the FDA website, HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said, “The FDA removed webpages with old conclusions about cellphone radiation while HHS undertakes a study on electromagnetic radiation and health research to identify gaps in knowledge, including on new technologies, to ensure safety and efficacy.” 

One of the deleted pages included a passage declaring that “the weight of scientific evidence has not linked exposure to radio frequency energy from cellphone use with any health problems.” There may be more scrubbing of the site to come: The Journal notes that the FDA’s site still has summaries of the deleted pages, but the links redirect to other generalized content about the agency’s regulatory mission. 

Kennedy, who had a career as an environmental litigator, has long engaged on this issue. Kennedy represented people suing phone companies for allegedly causing brain tumors, and won a 2020 case that compelled the Federal Communications Commission to reassess its wireless-radiation regulations. He was also chairman of Children’s Health Defense, which has been involved in litigation over 5G technology, and a case blaming an Idaho man’s cardiac issues on a cellphone tower. He has also pointed to radiation as a prime suspect in the mystery of widespread chronic illnesses among America’s children, “Our children are swimming around in a toxic soup, the Wi-Fi radiation is a lot worse than people think it is…yeah, from your cellphone,” Kennedy told Rogan in 2023.  

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HHS ENDS Biden’s Massive Child Care FRAUD Scheme That Let States Pay Providers Without Verifying Attendance

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has officially moved to dismantle a sweeping Biden-era child care scheme that allowed states to shovel billions in federal dollars to child care providers without verifying whether children were actually present, a reckless policy now linked to massive fraud investigations, particularly in Democrat-run hellholes like Minnesota.

Under the leadership of President Trump, HHS, through its Administration for Children and Families, is rescinding provisions of the 2024 Child Care and Development Fund (CCDF) rule imposed under Joe Biden.

“Congress appropriated this funding to support working families and ensure children have safe places to grow and learn,” said HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

“Loopholes and fraud diverted that money to bad actors instead. Today, we are correcting that failure and returning these funds to the working families they were meant to serve.”

The Biden regime’s insanity included:

  • Forcing payments on enrollment alone, not verified attendance
  • Mandating upfront cash to providers before any care was even provided
  • Push states toward provider contracts instead of parent-directed vouchers

But under President Trump’s triumphant return and HHS’s new rule changes:

  • Attendance-based billing is BACK! States can now demand proof that kids are actually there before handing over a dime.
  • No more free money upfront! Payments after services
  • Parental choice restored! Vouchers over crony contracts

The New York Post reported:

The President Biden rule took effect on April 30, 2024, meaning more than $19.3 billion in taxpayer dollars over 20 months may have been spent before President Trump could correct provisions that could have prolonged massive day care fraud in Minnesota.

[…]

Between 2021 and 2024, the Administration for Children and Families shelled out more than $91.8 billion from its Child Care Development Fund (CCDF), a federal block grant program that helps fund child care in states, US territories and tribes, per HHS data.

A whopping $56 billion went out the door just in 2021, during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The officials froze all future funding from CCDF — the third-largest block grant program after Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grants — last week until states can verify there is no fraud.

[…]

More than a decade before, HHS’ Office of Inspector General audited states and found tens of millions of dollars were being erroneously paid out to child care centers.

The consequences of Biden’s lax rules are playing out most dramatically in Minnesota, where allegations have surfaced that daycare providers collected hundreds of millions of dollars for children who never showed up or didn’t exist at all.

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