For the first time in 20 years, Congress did not reauthorize the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), a global initiative started under former President George W. Bush to help combat the global HIV epidemic. PEPFAR reauthorization, which is typically reapproved every five years, was left out of appropriations legislation that passed this past September, and its absence meant that parts of the PEPFAR program expired on Sept. 30. Democrats, including the Biden administration, were largely opposed to the lack of reapproved funding. “The fact that Congress did not reauthorize the program sends a message to partners around the…

The House of Representatives passed legislation in September to try and stop states from banning or limiting the sale of gas-powered cars. The Preserving Choice in Vehicle Purchases Act (H.R. 1435) passed by a 222-190 vote, with Republicans largely in favor, and is a reaction to California’s 2022 mandate that all new cars sold in the state after 2035 must be zero-emission vehicles, though the bill did not mention California or its mandate specifically. The state’s air resources board acknowledged that the move is “aggressive” and described its timeline to eliminate new gas-powered car sales by 2035 as “ambitious but…

As more and more states move to block genderaffirming care for minors, the issue of whether or not to give Americans under the age of 18 access to this type of medical treatment that includes puberty blockers, hormone therapies and surgeries is becoming more contentious. In the first half of 2023 several states, including Texas, Missouri and Idaho, enacted laws that ban such care, bringing the total number of states that prohibit genderaffirming care up to 20. Advocates of the bans argue that this type of medical care is endangering children and there is a lack of scientific evidence to…

Following the historic fires in Maui, Hawaii, climate activists and lawmakers ramped up a plea to President Biden to declare a national climate emergency. Such a declaration would allow the president to take more actions aimed at reducing the toll and destruction of climate-driven disasters. “Tomorrow, you could wake up and your whole community could be ashes,” Kaniela Ing, a Maui resident and the national director of the Green New Deal Network, a climate justice organization, told Politico amid the Maui fire disaster. “That’s the urgency we’re operating under, so if there was ever a moment to declare a climate…

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently finalized new blood donation guidelines that will make it easier for gay and bisexual men to give blood after decades of restrictions. The new guidelines removed a decades-long requirement that men who have sex with other men must abstain from sex for three months before donating blood in order to help protect blood supplies from HIV. Now, all potential blood donors will be given a questionnaire to evaluate individual risk for HIV based on factors such as sexual behavior and recent partners. Interested donors who report having had anal sex with new…

The Biden administration is going after what it calls “junk insurance” as part of its plan to lower health care costs for American consumers. In July the Health and Human Services, Treasury and Labor departments issued proposed rules that would limit short-term health plans to three months, with an option to be renewed for only one month. Initially created during the Obama administration, the short-term health plans were meant to be used during transition periods, such as times when people are between jobs, and were limited to 90-day periods. Under the Trump administration in 2018, the 90-day limit was expanded…

Building on growing debate in schools and libraries, the U.S. House recently passed legislation that sponsors say would guarantee parents and guardians certain rights over their children’s elementary and secondary school education. The Parents Bill of Rights (H.R. 5) passed in March by a 213-208 vote, with most Republicans in favor of the legislation and all Democrats opposing it. Among its requirements, the bill would mandate that schools publish curricula and allow parents to meet with teachers at least twice every school year, review the school’s budget and inspect reading materials in the school library. It would also require that…

As part of a crackdown on the nation’s largest source of emissions that contribute to climate change, the White House in April proposed rules to make cars and light trucks more efficient and push more consumers to drive electric vehicles. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates that the standards would cut 7.3 billion tons of carbon dioxide through 2055, the equivalent of eliminating all greenhouse gas emissions from the entire current U.S. transportation sector for four years. The rules set tailpipe emission limits for passenger vehicles between model years 2027 and 2032 and, due to their stringency, will effectively…

For nearly a century, the House has been fixed with 435 members. A growing movement in Congress and in think tanks, however, seeks to bump that number up to increase public access to members, improve diversity and reduce workloads for individual members. In January, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.) introduced H.R. 622, the Restoring Equal and Accountable Legislators in the House (REAL House) Act, which would add 150 seats to the House, increasing it to 585 members. “Members of the House of Representatives are their constituents’ most direct connection to the federal government and its resources and services,” Blumenauer said in…

Congressional Republicans recently attempted to block a new rule from the U.S. Department of Labor that allows retirement plan fiduciaries to consider environmental, social and governance (ESG) factors when choosing investments. The ESG rule, formally known as the Prudence and Loyalty in Selecting Plan Investments and Exercising Shareholder Rights, went into effect on Jan. 30, following an executive order signed by President Joe Biden in May 2021. “The intensifying impacts of climate change present physical risk to assets, publicly traded securities, private investments, and companies — such as increased extreme weather risk leading to supply chain disruptions,” the executive order…