Tag Archives: Appointments and Executive Changes

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to demote career employees who oversee scientific research, the enforcement of pollution laws, hazardous waste cleanup and the agency’s human resources department and replace them with political appointees, according to two people familiar with the approach. The move would give Trump administration loyalists more influence over aspects of the agency that were traditionally led by …

The Environmental Protection Agency plans to demote career employees who oversee scientific research, the enforcement of pollution laws, hazardous waste cleanup and the agency’s human resources department and replace them with political appointees, according to two people familiar with the approach. The move would give Trump administration loyalists more influence over aspects of the agency that were traditionally led by …

The Senate confirmed Chris Wright to lead the U.S. Department of Energy on Monday, putting the former oil executive in a key position to help shape President Trump’s energy policies. Mr. Wright, the founder and chief executive of Liberty Energy, a fracking firm, was confirmed by a vote of 59 to 38, with support from all Republicans present and a …

At the end of January, the keepers of the Doomsday Clock announced that the world was 89 seconds to midnight, a metaphor for our proximity to extinction. That’s one second closer than we were for the past two years, and the nearest the clock has ever inched to global destruction by way of human-made risks, including nuclear weapons, climate change …

Amid a tense line of questioning during the first day of confirmation hearings, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said he would keep his financial stake in pending litigation centered on Gardasil, a vaccine meant to prevent cervical cancer, which can be caused by the human papillomavirus, or HPV. On Thursday, under questioning by Senator Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, Mr. Kennedy …

Clinical trials at the National Institutes of Health and at organizations it funds may continue, and patients may still travel to trial sites to participate in research, despite the Trump administration’s restrictions on travel and communications, the acting director of the N.I.H., Dr. Matthew Memoli, said in an email to staff on Monday. While Dr. Memoli’s announcement provided some clarification, …

Howard Lutnick, a wealthy donor to President Trump who has been picked to lead the Commerce Department, defended Mr. Trump’s plans to impose broad tariffs and said he would take a tough stance on technology sales to China during his Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday. If confirmed, Mr. Lutnick would lead on trade policy and oversee a broad portfolio of …

Howard Lutnick, a wealthy donor who President Trump has picked to lead the Commerce Department, will face questioning about his financial holdings and potential conflicts of interest in a nomination hearing before the Senate Wednesday. Mr. Lutnick is the chief executive and chairman at Cantor Fitzgerald, a Wall Street brokerage, and holds executive positions at BGC, another brokerage, and Newmark …

President Trump last week formally nominated Michael Kratsios, a member of the first Trump administration with no degrees in science or engineering, to be his science adviser. Science policy experts say that Mr. Kratsios’ wide experience in private and public technology policy and management is what makes him an attractive candidate. His expertise includes a central role in early federal …

When President Bill Clinton worked with a bipartisan Congress to enact a federal program to guarantee vaccines for poor children, they agreed that the authority over buying shots from drug makers should rest with the health secretary. The bill’s drafters did not consider that an extremely vocal critic of childhood vaccines would emerge as a nominee for the role. That …