Biden Admin Spent $20 Billion for Refugee Resettlement in Just Two Years

Refugees

The Biden administration has poured billions of taxpayer dollars into the Department of Health and Human Services’ (HHS) Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) since October 2022, according to a new report from Open the Books.

The Biden administration spent $8.925 billion in fiscal year 2022 and $10.928 billion in fiscal year 2023 on the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) at ORR to accommodate, transport, and provide migrants with various other services like medical care and loans, according to the report, which was released Tuesday. In recent months, HHS has faced scrutiny for ORR’s alleged mishandling of cases of unaccompanied migrant children, some of whom have been released to poorly vetted sponsors where they are used for child labor, according to The New York Times.

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AARP Spent Millions Advocating for New Laws That Likely Benefit a Major Corporate Backer

Old Person

AARP, an organization that represents the interests of retired Americans, spent tens of millions of dollars promoting provisions in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that likely benefit the bottom line of one of the group’s major corporate backers.

AARP spent more than $60 million between 2019 and summer 2022 advocating for a provision that eventually made it into the IRA allowing Medicare to negotiate with pharmaceutical companies over the prices of certain drugs, according to an article posted on the group’s website. The provisions would require the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to negotiate the prices of certain drugs with drug manufacturers starting in 2026.

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Big Pharma is Giving Away Americans’ Medical Info to Law Enforcement with No Warrant, Lawmakers Say

Big pharmacies are distributing Americans’ private medical information to law enforcement agencies without a warrant, lawmakers said in a Tuesday letter to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

Law enforcement agencies discreetly get a hold of thousands of Americans’ prescription records per year with no warrant, and often with no legal review, according to Democratic Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden, Democratic Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal and Democratic California Rep. Sara Jacobs. The lawmakers are pushing HHS to increase its regulations to protect Americans’ data and require a warrant to obtain it.

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Commentary: New Biden Rule Applies Transgender Standard to Foster Care

Transgender orthodoxy may soon become a litmus test for parenthood, according to the logic of a new policy working its way through the Department of Health and Human Services under President Joe Biden.

A new rule in HHS’ Administration for Children and Families would apply the idea that any lack of “affirmation” constitutes a form of child abuse to foster care placements. Once that idea takes root in foster care, child protective services agencies might start applying it more broadly.

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Federal Government Bypasses Tennessee State Government, Will Give Millions in Title X Funding Directly to Planned Parenthood

In a move that drew criticism from Tennessee’s governor, the federal government plans to bypass the state’s health department and directly fund Planned Parenthood.

After the Human Life Protection Act took effect in August of 2022, ending the practice of abortion in Tennessee, Tennessee was denied Title X funding from the federal government.  

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Senator Marsha Blackburn Demands Transparency from HHS over Missing Migrant Children Response

Group of immigrants at border

On Monday, U.S. Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) demanded honesty and transparency from Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra over the reports of his Department’s mistreatment of 85,000 missing migrant children.

This follows Becerra and his Department stonewalling Blackburn in her initial request in April for documentation about his knowledge of the potential child exploitation and the Department’s retaliation against whistleblowers.

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Researchers Question One-Size-Fits-All COVID Booster Strategy as FDA Circumvents Advisors

Federal health officials face a growing hurdle in their quest to persuade Americans of all ages and risk profiles to get updated COVID-19 boosters: strong proponents of vaccination.

From New England to the Bay Area, researchers voiced concerns to mainstream science and health publications in recent days that the one-size-fits-all model may be backfiring.

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Virginia Employees of Federally-Contracted Call Center Go on Strike

Hundreds of employees of the country’s largest federally-contracted call center went on strike in Virginia last week to protest claims of “unfair layoffs,” poor pay, lack of career advancement opportunities and racial inequality in the workplace.

Maximus is contracted with the Department of Health and Human Services to supply call center services for the federally-mandated health care marketplace, Medicaid and Medicare enrollees, and the CDC-INFO line. Maximus employees handle millions of calls on behalf of HHS every year.

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Michigan Gov. Whitmer Signs Executive Order Creating Statewide LGBTQ Commission to Address Policy ‘Inequality’

Democratic Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer signed an executive order on Sunday creating a statewide LGBTQ commission to address inequality and discrimination.

The commission will advise Whitmer and the director of the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity on policy which directly impacts the state’s LGBTQ community, the executive order reads. The commission will also identify ways to attract members of the LGBTQ community to Michigan by assuring them that the state “is a safe place where its members and their families can thrive.”

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Wisconsin Congressman Glenn Grothman Grills Biden Official on ‘Lost Children’ Caught in Disastrous Border Policies

U.S. Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI-06) led a congressional hearing this week seeking answers on how the Biden Administration could lose track of more than 85,000 unaccompanied children it allowed to illegally enter the U.S. 

Robin Dunn Marcos, director of the Offie of Refugee Resettlement, had a hard time answering basic questions, highlighting the administrative nightmare behind President Joe Biden’s disastrous border policies. 

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Legal Watchdog: Biden Regime ‘Plans to Prioritize Organ Transplants Based on Skin Color’

A legal watchdog group has launched an investigation into an alleged effort by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to “prioritize organ transplants based on skin color.” The Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), an agency of HHS, is currently overhauling the nation’s organ transplant system with a plan to strengthen “equity,” among other things.

“HHS is unlawfully injecting race and national origin into the HRSA Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN),” America First Legal (AFL) said in a press release. “No American should be denied a lifesaving transplant because of the color of their skin.”

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HHS, CDC to Deploy Toxicologists to East Palestine amid Train Derailment Fallout

The Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention will send toxicologists to a struggling Ohio town in the wake of a major train derailment and the release of hazardous materials from its railcars.

A Norfolk Southern train earlier this month derailed near the town of East Palestine, forcing authorities to evacuate the town and orchestrate a controlled release of the toxic materials from the train to prevent an explosion.

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Texas AG Sues Biden Admin over HHS Guidance Forcing Pharmacies to Carry Abortion Pills

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit against President Joe Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Tuesday over the agency’s guidance mandating pharmacies provide abortion pills regardless of state law.

The HHS issued the guidance in July 2022, citing federal anti-discrimination law and threatening to pull Medicaid and Medicare funds from pharmacies that do not comply. The lawsuit argues that the guidance contradicts the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, which found no constitutional right to an abortion and kicked the ability to pass regulations back to the state level.

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Georgia U.S. Rep. Andrew Clyde Reintroduces Legislation to Block Funding for Biden’s Pro-Abortion Executive Orders

Representative Andrew Clyde (R-GA-09) has reintroduced legislation to block funding and forbid agencies from implementing President Joe Biden’s Executive Orders 14076 and 14079. The two orders, issued in 2022, required the Department of Health and Human Services to research and advance access to reproductive healthcare services.

“As tens of thousands of proud pro-life Americans attend the March for Life in our nation’s capital today, I’m proud to stand for the sanctity of life by reintroducing legislation to block and defund President Biden’s pro-abortion executive orders,” Clyde said in a January 20 press release announcing the “Protect the UNBORN (Undo the Negligent Biden Orders Right Now) Act.”

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Commentary: Department of Health and Human Services Giving $4.5 Million to Train on Implicit Bias

by Adam Andrzejewski   The Department of Health and Human Services is awarding $4.5 million in grants to public colleges to train maternal health providers in implicit bias. The grant summary states, “the purpose of this program is to address implicit bias among maternal health care providers to reduce health disparities and improve maternal health outcomes,” with public and state-controlled institutions of higher education eligible for the funding.   An HHS press release about the funding specifies that the funds will be used to support community-based doulas, a non-medical professional to support women as they give birth. They don’t deliver babies but give expectant mothers emotional and physical support leading up to and giving birth. The funding, through HHS’s Health Resources and Services Administration, said the money will be used to hire, train, certify, and pay community-based doulas “in areas with high rates of adverse maternal and infant health outcomes.” The HHS said the grant builds on the administration of President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris to “address the nation’s Black maternal health crisis.” Many news outlets and medical entities have reported on the high rate of Black mothers dying in or leading up to childbirth, a terrible scourge that…

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Judge Denies Jen Psaki’s Attempt to Avoid Testifying About White House-Big Tech Collusion

A federal court denied former White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki’s request Monday to avoid deposition in a lawsuit alleging coordination between Biden administration authorities and social media companies to suppress free speech.

The lawsuit first filed by Republican Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt and Louisiana Attorney General Jeff Landry in May accuses President Joe Biden and administration parties, including the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS), of colluding with or coercing the companies to “suppress disfavored speakers, viewpoints, and content” on their platforms with “dis-information,” “mis-information” and “mal-information” labels. Psaki filed a motion last week in a bid to avoid complying with the subpoena requiring her to testify, but Judge Terry Doughty of the Western District Court of Louisiana decided Monday to reject the motion and Psaki’s alternative request to stay her deposition.

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Attorney General Skrmetti Joins 21 States in Filing Petition to Withdraw Federal Vaccine Mandate for Healthcare Workers

Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti announced Thursday that he led efforts with attorneys general from 21 states in filing a Petition for Rulemaking, requesting that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to repeal the “unlawful federal vaccine mandate for healthcare workers and withdraw related guidance.”

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Federal Judge Blocks Biden’s Attempt to Override State Abortion Law

James Hendrix, U.S. District Judge for the Northern District of Texas, temporarily blocked President Joe Biden’s attempt to force states to provide abortions in certain emergency situations in a Tuesday ruling, according to court documents.

Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) issued guidance under the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA), which requires hospitals that receive Medicare funding to provide emergency medical aid in an attempt to override state abortion bans. Hendrix halted the guidance and temporarily blocked the HHS from enforcing its interpretation of EMTALA.

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Biden Plan to Restore Obamacare’s Protection of Transgender Rights in Federal Healthcare Programs Poised to Stoke Religious Freedom Lawsuits

The Biden administration will once again sow its seeds of division by proposing a rule to “protect” those claiming “gender identity” discrimination in federal healthcare programs, a move that is expected to generate religious freedom disputes.

The Biden Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced Monday its proposed rule will implement Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) to affirm that “protections against discrimination on the basis of sex, including sexual orientation and gender identity” are “consistent with the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Bostock v. Clayton County,” and to reiterate “protections from discrimination for seeking reproductive health care services.”

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Commentary: Reducing Patient Access to New Medications Is Progressives’ Latest Medicare Price Fixing Scheme

pharmacy

As negotiations on their tax and spending bill continue, Senate Democrats are working on a legislative proposal to have the government fix the prices of Medicare prescription medications.  Though the details of the 190-page amendment differ in certain respects from earlier versions, the indisputable result would be the same: Reduced patient access to prescription drugs.

Like most giant regulatory schemes, the draft proposal is characteristically complex with numerous provisions, including detailed data collection, new mandates, tax penalties on drug manufacturers, free vaccines, and a cap on out-of-pocket costs. But the heart of the bill is the creation of a Drug Price Negotiation Program administered by the Secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).

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Biden’s HHS Pressures Healthcare Providers to Perform ‘Emergency’ Abortions

The Biden administration is claiming that, under existing law, doctors are required to perform abortions in emergency situations even if state laws ban the procedure, according to new guidance issued to healthcare workers.

Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released guidance Monday explaining that the Emergency Medical Treatment and Active Labor Act applies to abortions in life- or health-saving emergencies. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra clarified that this preempts state laws in a Monday letter to healthcare providers.

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Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services Launches Abortion Access Website Following Far-Left Backlash

On Tuesday, the Biden Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) rolled out a new website aimed at helping people find access to contraceptives and abortions, following the Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.

According to Politico, the website, ReproductiveRights.gov, was launched after the administration faced criticism from the far-left over its response (or lack thereof) to the historic ruling by the Supreme Court, with progressives claiming that the Biden White House wasn’t doing enough to shore up abortion protections. The new website shares links and information regarding options for abortion and contraception.

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HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra Laughs While Suggesting American Taxpayers Could Foot the Bill for Transporting Women to Pro-Abortion States

Biden Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra laughed Monday as he suggested his agency is considering using taxpayer funds to transport women to pro-abortion states so they can end the lives of their unborn babies.

During an interview with NBC News following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade and return the issue of abortion to the states, Kate Snow asked Becerra, “What are you doing concretely in response to the Court’s decision, to try to help women?”

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Governor Whitmer’s Lost Case Sends $200,000 in Attorneys Fees to Policy Center’s Litigation Effort

Michigan’s governor, attorney general, and Department of Health and Human Services are on the hook for $200,000 in attorneys fees incurred from a lawsuit resolved by the state’s Supreme Court.

The Mackinac Center for Public Policy will collect the $200,000 after the state Supreme Court ruled against the government principals on Oct. 2, 2020, declaring Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s exercise of emergency powers under a 1945 law unconstitutional. The court’s ruling nullified every COVID-19 executive order issued by the governor after April 30, 2020.

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Biden Administration Department of Health and Human Services Announces New Environmental Justice Office

The Biden Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is announcing the creation of a new “Office of Environmental Justice,” meant to focus on so-called “global warming’s” impact on minorities.

As reported by Just The News, the new office will determine ways to “better protect the health of disadvantaged communities and vulnerable populations on the frontlines of pollution and other environmental health issues.”

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Commentary: Expand Telehealth Permanently

by Diana Girnita   When the fear of getting COVID-19 was high and lock-down orders were in place, telehealth was an important resource, allowing patients to connect with doctors by live video, telephone, and remote patient monitoring without overcrowding hospitals and doctors’ offices. During this time of isolation and drastic increases in mental health challenges, telehealth services provided a lifeline of critical psychiatric and behavioral healthcare to people in need. Early in the pandemic, nearly half of all states and the federal government passed laws expanding access to telehealth. These changes allowed more providers to adopt this technology and, as a result, the United States went from having 43% of community health centers using telehealth before the pandemic to 98% just months into the pandemic. With innovation and quickly evolving technology, healthcare providers can deliver more high-quality services remotely, and our laws should make it easy to do so. Yet, as of last year, only eight states have made telehealth changes permanent. Congress passed the 2022 omnibus spending bill in March that extended federal telehealth provisions through September, the end of the 2022 fiscal year. The law covers telehealth visits, including video and audio-only visits, for Medicare patients. It also reinstated the CARES Act provision allowing high-deductible health plans (which…

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Primary Source of COVID Misinformation Is the Feds, Scientists and Scholars Tell Surgeon General

U.S Surgeon General Vivek Murthy recently asked the public how COVID-19 misinformation “in the digital information environment” had affected health outcomes, trust in the healthcare system and “likelihood to vaccinate,” among other issues.

According to vaccine and healthcare policy experts who joined with Indiana Attorney General Todd Rokita, the misinformation is coming from inside the house.

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Biden’s Plan to Surrender U.S. Health Sovereignty to ‘Corrupt, Chinese Communist Party Entity’ World Health Organization Draws Fire

Many constitutionalists, lawmakers, and healthcare professionals are sounding the alarm over the Biden administration’s plan to forfeit the United States’ decision-making power over its healthcare policies to the World Health Organization (WHO), an organization Rep. Chip Roy’s office (R-TX) calls a “corrupt, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) entity.”

In January 2021, Roy introduced HR 419, which seeks to end U.S. taxpayer funding of the WHO, an agency of the United Nations, but in recent days more lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors since proposed amendments by the Biden administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to the WHO’s International Health Regulations, are scheduled to be voted upon May 22-28 at the World Health Assembly.

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Rental Assistance Program Still Lacks Uniform Federal Requirements to Verify Income, Identity

A federal rental assistance program still lacks uniform federal requirements that states must follow to verify the income and identity of recipients, despite the findings and warnings in a Government Accountability Office report.

In a February 2021 report, the GAO found that 13 agencies administering the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program “reported using no electronic data to verify beneficiaries’ income, verifying income in other ways, such as checking beneficiaries’ documents.”

According to the GAO, the Department of Health and Human Services has “encouraged LIHEAP agencies to use electronic data to improve program integrity, but has not taken recent steps to share information that could facilitate its use.”

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Biden’s Head Start Vaccination Requirement Could Have Detrimental Effects on Montana’s Rural Students

President Joe Biden’s administration put a policy in place that requires all employees in a federal education program to get the COVID-19 vaccine, which program directors argue will have a detrimental effect on Montana’s programs that assist underserved communities in the state.

If enforced, the requirement will have a negative impact on Montana’s Head Start program, according to program directors and information provided to the Daily Caller News Foundation by the state’s Department of Justice (DOJ). The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), along with the White House, has mandated the vaccine for teachers and staff who work for Head Start and Early Head Start programs nationwide.

Head Start includes preschool programs for 3 and 4-year-old children, while Early Head Start programs are for infants, toddlers and pregnant women to “promote the school readiness of children ages birth to 5 from low-income families by supporting their development in a comprehensive way,” according to its website.

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Vaccinating Kids as Young as Five Would Be a ‘Game Changer,’ Biden’s Education Secretary Says

President Joe Biden’s Education Secretary Miguel Cardona said the approval of a COVID-19 vaccine for children would be a “game changer” for students in the U.S.’s public school system, U.S. News reported.

Pfizer announced Monday that a smaller dose of its vaccine has generated an immune response in 5 to 11-year-old children during the clinical trial. The company said it plans to submit data for approval in the next few weeks.

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Virginia Sen. Kaine Pushing House to Pass Bill Focused on Health Care Worker Mental Health

Senator Tim Kaine (D-Virginia) is pushing the House of Representatives to pass his Dr. Lorna Breen Health Care Provider Protection Act, focused on addressing mental health in healthcare professionals. On Wednesday, Kaine held a press conference touting the passage of his bill in the Senate.

“You all have a story about how the time of coronavirus has affected you just as I have a story. But in particular, in particular, the effect of the last year-and-a-half on our front-line health care workers has been incredibly dramatic,” Kaine said.

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Fort Bliss in Texas Becomes Ground Zero for Resettling Afghan Refugees During Chaotic Exit

Fort Bliss in El Paso, Texas, is best known as home to the Army’s tank division, the revered Old Ironsides military insignia and the country’s largest military-controlled airspace. But the Biden administration’s botched exit from Afghanistan is turning the vast installation into ground zero for the evacuation of Afghans who spent two decades helping the United States fight the war against terror.

Texas Sen. John Cornyn says the fort is preparing to receive 10,000 Afghan refugees, and military officials have hinted that number could reach much higher.

It’s the second major wave of civilian guests to be hosted at the fort, which began this spring helping the Homeland Security and Health and Human Services Departments to house thousands of unaccompanied minor children who were brought across the border.

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Michigan Health Services Releases School COVID-19 Recommendations

The Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS) issued updated recommendations for schools to help prevent transmission of COVID-19 within school buildings, reduce disruptions to in-person learning and help protect vulnerable individuals.

The guidance reflects guidelines by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on masking and prevention strategies to help operate schools more safely.

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CDC Awarded Davidson and Shelby Counties Nearly $12 Million to Address COVID Health Disparities for Minorities

CDC

The CDC awarded nearly $12 million collectively to Davidson and Shelby counties to address COVID-related health disparities in racial and ethnic minorities. Overall, the Tennessee Department of Health (TDH) was awarded nearly $39 million in total this past week, with a rural carveout totaling over $8.3 million. The CDC says this funding to a total of 107 recipients is part of a larger goal to “advance health equity.”

The Metro Public Health Department of Nashville and Davidson County received over $4.9 million in these funds, while Shelby County Health Department received nearly $6.6 million. The Tennessee Star inquired with the CDC how the funds can be used specifically to address COVID-related health disparities among racial or ethnic minorities, and what metrics they would use to measure progress within the awarded states and localities. The CDC didn’t respond by press time.

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EXCLUSIVE: Unaccompanied Migrant Children Also Flew On Commercial Airlines Into Chattanooga: ‘They Had New Cell Phones, Backpacks, and Clothes’

The Tennessee Star discovered that unaccompanied migrant children were flown May 11 on a commercial flight – three days before flights documented by initial breaking news. Previous reports discovered that the unaccompanied migrant children were flown into a private airport on May 14 – Chattanooga’s Wilson Air Center. It is unclear how many other flights carrying migrant children came into Tennessee prior to these documented incidents on May 11 and 14. A source who was on the flight informed The Star that they encountered a man chaperoning 10 to 15 migrant children between the ages of 10 and 14 onto an American Airlines flight. The chaperone was described as a bilingual Hispanic male wearing street clothes, speaking fluent Spanish to the children and English to the source – he’d chatted with our source for around 45 minutes at a ticket counter. The chaperone informed our source that he was “escorting all these young men to Chattanooga for a shelter.” The group of migrant children reportedly had new-looking cell phones, clothes, shoes, and backpacks. The source added that some of the children were playing games or talking in Spanish on their phones.

The group of migrant children and their chaperone reportedly boarded the plane first and went to the back of the plane. They flew from Dallas Fort Worth Airport to Chattanooga Metropolitan Airport, also known as Lovell Field on American Airlines flight number 3901. They arrived around 1 a.m. EDT on May 12.

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US Grant to Wuhan Lab to Enhance Bat-Based Coronaviruses Was Never Scrutinized by HHS Review Board, NIH Says

An oversight board created to scrutinize research that would enhance highly dangerous pathogens did not review a National Institutes of Health grant that funded a lab in Wuhan, China, to genetically modify bat-based coronaviruses.

Experts say the NIH grant describes scientists conducting gain-of-function research, a risky area of study that, in this case, made SARS-like viruses even more contagious. Federal funding for gain-of-function research was temporarily suspended in 2014 due to widespread scientific concerns it risked leaking supercharged viruses into the human population.

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Biden Administration Opens Yet Another Facility to Hold Surging Numbers of Immigrant Children

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A second temporary facility will be opened for unaccompanied migrant minors crossing the border in Texas, officials announced Tuesday.

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) will reopen a temporary facility called “Carizzo Springs II ICF” capable of holding 500 unaccompanied migrant minors in hard-sided structures with the ability to expand to soft-sided structures if needed, a spokesperson for the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR) said Tuesday.

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Judge Theodore Chuang Rules Women Can Get Abortion Pill Without Doctor Visit

A federal judge agreed Monday to suspend a rule that requires women during the COVID-19 pandemic to visit a hospital, clinic or medical office to obtain an abortion pill.

U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang, an Obama appointee based in Maryland, concluded that the “in-person requirements” for patients seeking medication abortion care impose a “substantial obstacle” to abortion patients and are likely unconstitutional under the circumstances of the pandemic.

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Ohio Professor Qing Wang the Latest to be Arrested over China Ties

Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine professor and former Cleveland Clinic employee was arrested Wednesday over his alleged ties to China.

The Justice Department announced that Qing Wang was arrested at his Shaker Heights, Ohio home as part of a joint operation conducted by the FBI and the  Department of Health and Human Service Office of the Inspector-General. Wang was charged with wire fraud related to more than $3.6 million in grant funding that Wang and his research team at the Cleveland Clinic had received from the National Institutes of Health.

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Report: HHS Computer System Hit with a Cyber Attack from a Potential Foreign Actor

Hackers seized upon a U.S. Health and Human Services Department computer system Sunday during the government’s public response to the coronavirus outbreak, Bloomberg reported Monday.

The cyber attack was designed to slow down the U.S. response and toss a wrench into the gears of the HHS’s computer system, Bloomberg noted, citing three sources who requested commenting anonymously to discuss something that was not yet public.

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The ‘New’ Ninth Circuit Court Rules Trump Admin Stripping Funding From Abortion Clinics Is Constitutional

Fetus on Health

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Monday that the Trump administration can continue stripping federal funding from clinics that offer abortions.

The court upheld the Trump administration’s June 2019 declaration that taxpayer-funded clinics must stop referring women for abortions or be stripped of their Title X funding.

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Rep. Green Votes No on $1 Trillion Spending Bill Full of ‘Partisan Garbage’

  U.S. Rep. Dr. Mark Green (R-TN-07) voted “no” Wednesday on a bill he said was full of “partisan garbage” that included funding for Planned Parenthood. The House passed the H.R. 2740, the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, Defense, State, Foreign Operations, and Energy and Water Development Appropriations Act, 2020. Green tweeted, “Congressional Democrats jammed as much partisan garbage into this nearly $1 trillion spending package as possible. I voted NO.” Congressional Democrats jammed as much partisan garbage into this nearly $1 trillion spending package as possible. I voted NO. pic.twitter.com/h7odAZljWw — Rep. Mark Green (@RepMarkGreen) June 19, 2019 Green explained his no vote in a press release. “Congressional Democrats jammed as much partisan garbage into this nearly $1 trillion spending package as possible. If passed into law, this minibus would force taxpayers to pay for abortions in the U.S. and even overseas, continue funding Planned Parenthood, pay for an earmark program, and send half a billion dollars in aid to foreign countries most responsible for illegal crossings and trafficking on our border. Democrats opted to include these programs at the expense of Department of Defense funding and border wall funding, falling short of President Trump’s budget request. “Moreover, I…

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Trump Administration Ends Unions ‘Skimming’ $100 Million a Year from Medicaid

by Bethany Blankley   A final rule change has been implemented by the Trump administration to ensure that Medicaid providers receive complete payments as required by law. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) within the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) released the Medicaid Provider Reassignment Regulation final rule that removes states from being able to divert portions of Medicaid provider payments to third parties – including unions – outside of the scope of what the statute allows. The final rule came after CMS considered more than 7,000 comments from the public, healthcare providers, unions, state agencies, and advocacy groups during the public comment period after the changes were proposed. “State Medicaid programs are responsible for ensuring that taxpayer dollars are dedicated to providing healthcare services for low-income, vulnerable Americans and are not diverted in ways that do not comply with federal law,” CMS Administrator Seema Verma said in a statement. “This final rule is intended to ensure that providers receive their complete payment, and that any circumstance where a state redirects part of a provider’s payment is clearly allowed under the law.” Section 1902(a)(32) of the Social Security Act generally prohibits states from making payments for…

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Sen. Blackburn Says President Trump’s Defunding of Planned Parenthood Mirrors, Supports Her Bill to Block Tax Funds From Going to Abortion Providers

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) announced Friday that President Donald Trump is essentially backing her bill to protect unborn babies by defunding Planned Parenthood. Blackburn on Jan. 10 introduced her first bill in the U.S. Senate, S. 105, the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, to strip all abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, of federal funding under Title X of the Public Health Service Act. Now, Trump has announced he would issue a rule to block the use of federal funds from going to abortion providers, including Planned Parenthood, under Title X of the Public Health Service Act, Blackburn said in a press release. The Department of Health and Human Services rule accomplishes the same goal as her act, she said. The bill’s tracking information is here. “President Trump is to be commended for taking action to ensure that federal funding for women’s health is used for its intended purpose, not the ending of innocent human life,” Blackburn said. “This new rule works to accomplish the same goal as the bill I introduced in January, the Title X Abortion Provider Prohibition Act, so taxpayers can be sure their dollars only go toward funding women’s health programs, not big abortion providers.…

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