White House reporter @POLITICO, covering health and the economy. DM for Signal.
Oct 5, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: The White House’s decision to block stringent new Covid-19 vaccine guidelines came after it told the FDA that the pharmaceutical industry had objected to the tougher standards. politico.com/news/2020/10/0…
White House aides incl. MARK MEADOWS have cited industry opposition in blocking the guidelines over the past two weeks.
That’s raised concerns among health officials about vaccine developers’ ability to influence their own regulatory standards: politico.com/news/2020/10/0…
Aug 28, 2020 • 6 tweets • 4 min read
New: FDA Commissioner Stephen Hahn is ousting top spokesperson EMILY MILLER after less than two weeks (or ~1 Scaramucci) on the job, amid deep unhappiness over the agency’s comms strategy.
NEW: Top Trump health official SEEMA VERMA violated federal rules by steering millions in publicity contracts to GOP-aligned comms specialists, according to a 15-month HHS inspector general audit prompted by a POLITICO investigation.
w/ @ddiamond: politico.com/news/2020/07/1…@ddiamond The 70-page IG report details how Verma leaned on hand-picked contractors to craft her comms strategy and exercise broad authority within CMS
In one case, two CMS employees went as far as to question the legality of the arrangement. politico.com/news/2020/07/1…
Jul 15, 2020 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
Peter Navarro, the president’s trade adviser, goes after Anthony Fauci in the pages of USA Today – the latest escalation of *mid-pandemic* White House attacks against its own infectious disease expert usatoday.com/story/opinion/…
-136,000+ dead
-Outbreaks across major regions of the country
-An economy on life support
-Travel bans on Americans in over a dozen countries
The White House has spent the past three days undercutting its own infectious disease scientist
Apr 16, 2020 • 7 tweets • 5 min read
New: A top Interior Dept. official is under fire over a decision giving for-profit Alaskan corporations access to billions in coronavirus aid earmarked for Native tribes – a group that includes her former employer.
But Democrats (and some Republicans) say that wasn’t the intent, worrying corporations could eat up half the $8 billion fund politico.com/news/2020/04/1…
Mar 20, 2020 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
New: 37 ICU beds, 81 ventilators and an indefinite delay on federal funding – all for 2.5 million people.
This is the dire situation facing the nation’s American Indians: politico.com/news/2020/03/2…
The Trump administration has held up $40 million in aid to Indian country for weeks amid a bureaucratic snafu.
Meanwhile, Indian Health Service officials have admitted to running a “shoestring” operation and struggled to get a handle on hospital capacity: politico.com/news/2020/03/2…
Jul 24, 2018 • 5 tweets • 2 min read
NEW: Former Pa. gubernatorial candidate PAUL MANGO is joining CMS as chief deputy administrator.
Comes just months after losing a GOP primary marked by vicious debates over who was more anti-Obamacare: subscriber.politicopro.com/health-care/ar…
Mango will also be Seema Verma’s chief of staff.
