Tag Archives: United States Politics and Government

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has spoken of an “existential threat” that he said can destroy the nation. “We have the highest chronic disease burden of any country in the world,” Mr. Kennedy said at a hearing in January before the Senate confirmed him as the secretary of Health and Human Services. And on Monday he is starting a tour in …

U.S. oil prices fell sharply, briefly dipping below $60 a barrel on Sunday — their lowest level in almost four years — as the economic fallout from President Trump’s latest round of tariffs reverberated around the world. Crude oil now costs around 15 percent less than it did last Wednesday, just before Mr. Trump revealed his plans to impose stiff …

The measles crisis in West Texas has claimed the life of another child, the second death in an outbreak that has burned through the region and infected dozens of residents in bordering states. The eight-year-old girl died of “measles pulmonary failure” at a hospital in Lubbock, Texas, according to records obtained by The New York Times. It is the second …

It was a bad week for Ben Coryell, who runs a wilderness guiding company in Golden, Colo. He got several calls from customers who wanted to cancel their climbing courses and mountaineering expeditions over the summer, often citing second thoughts about big purchases as the Trump administration has thrown the economy into turmoil with eye-watering tariffs. At the same time, …

For the last several months, Ken Harvey has been cultivating a budding side business for his Honda and Mazda dealerships in Northern California: selling used Teslas. A few times a month, Mr. Harvey picks up a few pre-owned Teslas at a local automobile auction and offers them for sale, often at surprisingly affordable prices, thanks to a $4,000 federal tax …

If congressional Republicans go through with some of the deep Medicaid cuts they are considering, three states would be left in an especially tight bind. South Dakota, Missouri and Oklahoma have state constitutions requiring that they participate in Medicaid expansion, the part of Obamacare that expanded the health program for the poor to millions of adults. If Republicans choose to …

‘As a business owner, you don’t make money right away, right?’ Hamid Chaudhry, 53, from Reading, Pa. “I live in Trump country,” Hamid Chaudhry said. “Nobody is panicking.” The owner of a farmer’s market, he said he has taken a 25 percent cut in profits over the past year because of the rising costs of goods and services. He said …

The Republican Party embarked this week on a haphazard experiment in economic policymaking, wagering that the United States can weather a monumental tax increase in the form of broad tariffs on imported goods as long as Congress also cuts taxes on income. It’s a mash-up that many investors, economists and even some G.O.P. lawmakers expect to be a failure. “I …

As the Trump administration moves to dismantle international public health safeguards, pull funding from local health departments and legitimize health misinformation, some experts now fear that the country is setting the stage for a long-term measles resurgence. If federal health officials do not change course, large multistate outbreaks like the one that has torn through West Texas, jumping to neighboring …

The Trump administration on Friday rejected a Biden plan that would have required Medicare and Medicaid to cover obesity drugs and expanded access for millions of people. Under the law that established Medicare’s Part D drug benefits, the program was forbidden from paying for drugs for “weight loss.” The Biden administration’s proposal last November had attempted to sidestep that ban …