In recent years, the Food and Drug Administration hired experts in surgical robots and pioneers in artificial intelligence. It scooped up food chemists, lab-safety monitors and diabetes specialists who helped make needle pricks and test strips relics of the past. Trying to keep up with breakneck advances in medical technology and the demands of a public troubled by additives like …
Read More »Tag Archives: United States Politics and Government
Emergency Food, TB Tests and H.I.V. Drugs: Vital Health Aid Remains Frozen Despite Court Ruling
Funds for vital health programs around the world remain frozen and their work has not been able to resume, despite a federal judge’s order that temporarily halted the Trump administration’s dismantling of the government’s main foreign aid agency. Interviews with people working on health initiatives in Africa and Asia found that parents in Kenya whose children are believed to have …
Read More »Trump Tests Fed’s Independence With Order Expanding Authority Over Agencies
The Federal Reserve’s independence from the White House has long been enshrined in the law. But an executive order that President Trump signed this week seeking to extend his administration’s reach over independent agencies is prompting concerns about how much further he will go to challenge that separation. Mr. Trump’s directive took aim at regulatory agencies that had typically operated …
Read More »Clean Energy Was Lifting Manufacturing. Now Investment Is in Jeopardy.
American manufacturing has been in the doldrums for years, battered by high borrowing costs and a strong dollar, which makes exports less competitive. But there has been a bright spot: billions of dollars flowing into factory construction, signifying that a potential rebound in production and employment is around the corner. The flood of investment has been driven by two major …
Read More »Oz, Trump’s Medicare Nominee, Pledges to Divest Interests in Health Care Stocks
Since 2023, Dr. Mehmet Oz, the celebrity doctor nominated by President Trump to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, has been a high-priced pitchman for iHerb, a California supplement retailer. He has aggressively promoted iHerb products on social media, recommending supplements that he says will stimulate hair growth and provide smoother skin. Olive oil, which iHerb sells, he …
Read More »Trump Labor Nominee Lori Chavez-DeRemer Faces Pressure at Senate Hearing
President Trump’s pick as labor secretary faced pointed questions from both parties at her Senate confirmation hearing on Wednesday over her past support for pro-union legislation, an issue that could complicate her nomination. The nominee, Lori Chavez-DeRemer, a former Republican congresswoman, was pressed repeatedly about her stand on the PRO Act — a sweeping labor bill that sought to strengthen …
Read More »Trump Administration Has Fired Health Inspectors at Some Border Stations
At the nation’s borders, federal workers keep the country safe in many ways: Some investigate sick passengers. Some examine animals for dangerous pathogens. And some inspect plants for infestations that could spread in this country. Late last week, the Trump administration dispatched hundreds of those federal employees with the same message that colleagues at other agencies received: Their services were …
Read More »Trump Eyes a Bigger, Better Trade Deal With China
During the Biden administration, Donald J. Trump would sit in his mirrored and gold-trimmed salon at Mar-a-Lago where he had once hosted China’s leader, Xi Jinping, brooding to visitors about the outcome of the trade agreement he signed with China in 2020. Mr. Trump would castigate “stupid people” in the White House for failing to honor “my trade agreement,” and …
Read More »Senate Confirms Howard Lutnick as Commerce Secretary
The Senate on Tuesday voted 51 to 45 to confirm Howard Lutnick to be President Trump’s commerce secretary, putting in place one of the administration’s top economic officials who will help oversee an agenda around tariffs and protectionism. Mr. Lutnick, who was the chief executive of the financial services firm Cantor Fitzgerald, became a central economic adviser to Mr. Trump …
Read More »National Science Foundation Fires 168 Workers on Trump’s Order
The Trump administration on Tuesday cut more than 10 percent of the work force at the National Science Foundation, an independent agency that supports cutting-edge scientific research, adding to the widespread purge of federal workers with probationary status that began last week. Michael England, a spokesman for the foundation, said in a statement that the agency fired 168 probationary employees, …
Read More »