Washington, D.C., Aug. 5. 2025 — Trump Illegally Blocking NIH Funding, Top Government Watchdog Concludes
[U.S. Senator Patty] Murray [(D – Wash.), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee,] responds as GAO Government Accountability Office finds Trump has illegally impounded enacted funding for 5th time in recent weeks …
‘Today’s decision affirms what we’ve known for months: President Trump is illegally blocking funding for medical research and shredding the hopes of patients across the country who are counting on NIH-backed research to propel new treatments and cures that could save their lives.
‘Over the last six months, President Trump and his administration have done just about everything they can to wreck our nation’s medical research system, and they have dangerously set back our efforts to cure cancer, Alzheimer’s, and so much else. Cutting off investments Congress has made into research that saves millions of lives is as backward and as inexcusable as it gets.
‘It is critical President Trump reverse course, stop decimating the NIH, and get every last bit of this funding out. Republicans must join Democrats in pressing on this urgent matter until this money gets out the door—light up the phones at the White House and insist that the president himself answer for this. The longer this goes on, the more clinical trials that will be cut short, labs that will shutter, and lifesaving research that will never see the light of day.’ …
Since his first hours in office, President Trump has illegally blocked funding owed to communities across the country through a variety of different means. Senate and House Appropriations Committee Democrats have been tracking Trump’s illegal funding freeze and found that, as of June 3, President Trump is blocking at least $425 billion in funding owed to the American people.
Washington, D.C., Aug. 1, 2025 — Democratic members warn HHS: Revoking immigrant health benefits puts everyone at risk
Representatives Linda T. Sánchez (D-Calif.), Raul Ruiz (D-Calif.), Greg Casar and 22 of their Democratic colleagues today called on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to reject a proposal that would strip certain benefits from eligible immigrants, warning that such a move puts everyone at risk.
‘The immigrants who use these benefits are members of our communities – they are our neighbors and our friends,’ the members wrote. ‘This unnecessary and cruel change in interpretation represents one more attack on immigrant communities that will harm all of us. Instead of focusing on fixing the problems it caused by stripping millions of Americans of their healthcare to finance tax cuts for the wealthy, this Administration is prioritizing its extreme immigration agenda over our collective well-being.[‘]
Many immigrant groups are ineligible for ‘federal public benefits’ under the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act. However, for nearly 30 years, federal agencies have said that programs intended for the good of the community are not restricted and that everyone can access these vital services. This includes coverage for emergency medical conditions, disaster relief, testing and treatment of communicable diseases and immunizations that benefit everyone.
The Trump administration has proposed reclassifying more than 13 programs as ‘federal public benefits,’ therefore ensuring that they will no longer be available to many immigrants.
In addition to Sánchez, Ruiz and Casar, the letter was signed by Representatives Hank Johnson (D Ga.), Eleanor Holmes Norton (D D.C.), Adriano Espaillat (D N.Y.), Rashida Tlaib (D Mich.), Paul Tonko (D N.Y.), Salud Carbajal (D Calif.), Ilhan Omar (D Minn.), Danny Davis (D Ill.), Nydia Velázquez (D N.Y.), Terri Sewell (D Ala.), John Garamendi (D Calif.), Yvette Clarke (D N.Y.), Janice Schakowsky (D Ill.), Teresa Leger Fernández (D N.M.), Juan Vargas (D Calif.), Suzan DelBene (D Wash.), Adam Smith (D Wash.), Shri Thanedar (D Mich.), Doris Matsui (D Calif.), Jerrold Nadler (D N.Y.) and Judy Chu (D Calif.).
The members submitted this comment letter on the proposed rule to Secretary Kennedy as part of the public comment period, which is open until August 13.
Full text of the letter is available here …
Washington, D.C., July 15, 2025 — Scott, Murray Reintroduce Child Care for Working Families Act: As Republicans deliver fresh tax breaks for billionaires and kick Americans off their health care, Democrats continue their fight to help families find and afford child care.
Today, Ranking Member Robert C. ‘Bobby’ Scott (VA-03), House Committee on Education and Workforce, and Vice Chair Patty Murray (D-WA), Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, joined their colleagues in reintroducing the Child Care for Working Families Act, comprehensive legislation to ensure families across America can find and afford the high-quality child care they need.
‘Our economy forces too many workers to choose between their jobs and caring for their children. Without investments in the care economy, jobs will remain unfilled because too many workers, especially women, will have to remain at home, and our economy will never reach its full potential,’ said Ranking Member Scott. ‘Let’s be clear. The child care crisis cannot be solved without sustained public funding. The Child Care for Working Families Act makes the investments we need to turn our child care system around and meet the needs of children, parents, and child care workers. We must finally pass this bill and expand access to affordable, quality early learning opportunities, provide child care workers with the support they deserve, and give parents the freedom to pursue rewarding careers and contribute to our economic growth.’
‘Right now, the cost of child care and other essentials is weighing millions of families down, but instead of tackling the affordability crisis, President Trump and Republicans have chosen to shower their billionaire donors with trillions of dollars in new tax breaks and kick 17 million Americans off their health care,’ said Senator Murray. ‘It’s an outrageous betrayal, and instead of wasting billions on handouts for the richest people on earth, Democrats are going to keep fighting to help working families afford the basics and get ahead—including by passing my Child Care for Working Families Act to ensure every family can find and afford the child care they need. Just about everyone now recognizes how urgent an issue the child care crisis is—and how badly it hurts families and our economy—so I invite my Republican colleagues to join us to finally deliver the actual reform we need to address this crisis. This is an ambitious and commonsense plan to build child care centers, hire and retain more early childhood educators, and make sure every family can afford child care—with the typical family paying less than $15 a day. Not only that, we’d finally set this country on the path to universal Pre-K. People actually want Congress to do this—don’t tell me we can’t afford to invest in child care and bring down costs for every family after Republicans just blew up the national debt to give tax breaks to billionaires who don’t need them.’
Washington, D.C., July 31, 2025 — Schakowsky, Markey, Ruiz, Jayapal Introduce Dr. Paul Farmer Memorial Resolution Outlining 21st Century Global Health Strategy
… ‘Dr. Paul Farmer is responsible for transforming the lives of millions and millions of poor and marginalized people around the world, bringing them health care, dignity, and justice. A true visionary, Paul insisted that all people have a right to excellent health care, and he developed the systems to deliver it in places people had written off. Gleaming world class hospitals and locally trained doctors, nurses, and community workers now exist in places like Haiti and Rwanda. Paul was not only a world-renowned leader in global health, but also a precious friend and a tireless organizer, inspiring thousands of people to actively participate in his work. All of us owe him a debt that can only be paid by carrying on his mission and legacy,” said Congresswoman Jan Schakowsky.
‘That is why I am introducing the Dr. Paul Farmer Memorial Resolution alongside my colleagues Senator Markey and Representatives Ruiz and Jayapal. This resolution lays out a 21st Century Global Health Strategy that enshrines Paul’s vision to achieve global universal health care and end unnecessary and preventable deaths. We are the richest country in the world at the richest time in the world. As the Trump Administration rips away lifesaving aid from millions of people, it is more important than ever for those of us who care about global health and justice to rededicate ourselves to building and fully funding a robust global health strategy. Paul called on us to understand global health inequity as an injustice—a result of centuries of violence and exploitation inflicted on the global poor. We can make the choice to end global health inequity, and with Paul’s vision guiding us, we will.’
The proposals in the resolution are as follows:
- Increase global health aid to $125 billion per year
- Close the essential universal health care financing gap for low-income countries
- Allow the U.S. to meet the U.N. aid target of 0.7% GNI for the first time ever
- Reform global health aid
- Focus on building national health systems and direct funding to local partners, not the development industry
- Develop new medical technologies for diseases of poverty and ensure their availability as global public goods
- Make the global economy more fair, just, and democratic
- Democratizing the IMF, World Bank, and World Trade Organization, so that poor countries have greater say over decisions that affect their economies and their ability to finance health systems
- Global debt cancelation for all developing countries that need it
- Ending harmful licit and illicit financial flows from poor countries—ending global tax havens and illegal practices like trade misinvoicing
- Supporting global labor rights, such as a global minimum wage
‘In this moment of crisis, we need Paul’s vision for global health justice more than ever. Thankfully, that vision is captured in this resolution. It provides us with a much-needed roadmap for global cooperation based on solidarity and justice by getting to the root causes of unnecessary suffering and death, or what Paul called ‘structural violence’. This includes greatly improving development assistance for health, but also going well beyond aid to address ongoing extractive colonial arrangements, which preclude local investments in health systems,’ said Sheila Davis, CEO of Partners in Health.
As an infectious disease physician, Dr. Farmer earned accolades for treating patients in impoverished countries with high quality care, including those suffering from HIV and cancer. As a medical anthropologist, he was known for popularizing and deepening understandings of ‘structural violence,’ the idea that social systems are designed to impoverish, sicken, and sideline select groups. As chief strategist of Partners in Health, he garnered plaudits for pioneering community-based treatment strategies, building teaching hospitals, and more. Dr. Farmer called on us to understand global health inequity as an injustice—an effect of centuries of violence and exploitation inflicted on the global poor. This resolution embodies that and will serve as a North Star that will guide the movement for global health equity for years to come.
In addition to Reps. Schakowsky, Ruiz, and Jayapal, this resolution is cosponsored in the House of Representatives by Reps. Raja Krishnamoorthi (IL-08), Betty McCollum (MN-04), Jim McGovern (MA-02), Seth Moulton (MA-06), Ayanna Pressley (MA-07), Delia Ramirez (IL-03), Juan Vargas (CA-52).
In addition to Sen. Markey, this resolution is cosponsored in the Senate by Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA).
