COLLINS TO RESIGN — The National Institutes of Health Director plans to announce his resignation after nearly three decades at the agency, including 12 years at the helm, POLITICO scooped Monday. The 71-year-old physician-geneticist led the agency under three consecutive presidents — making him the first presidentially appointed NIH director to serve in more than one administration and the longest-serving NIH director, Megan Wilson, Sarah and Erin Banco write. During the coronavirus pandemic, Collins has been on the front lines urging Americans to wear masks and get vaccinated. While the public criticized other top health officials, accusing them of partisan behavior in the coronavirus response, Collins often presented a calm and friendly face on TV shows and airwaves. Collins, who led the global effort to sequence the human genome and discovered the gene for cystic fibrosis, has spoken at length about his conversion from atheism to Christianity. In 2006 he penned a book in 2006 called “The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief.” A year later, he founded the BioLogos Foundation, a group that aims to reconcile religion and science. His departure had been in the works for some time, one person familiar said. Officials from NIH, the Department of Health and Human Services and the White House did not immediately respond to requests for comment. What’s next: It’s not clear who will take Collins’ place, especially during a critical time for NIH research, pandemic response and new ventures like the multibillion-dollar Advanced Research Project Agency for Health. Principal Deputy Director Lawrence Tabak could become acting director, but in the meantime the White House adds another high-profile health appointment to its list alongside FDA director.
DEMOCRATS BEGIN THE BARGAINING (AGAIN) — While an agreement on the multitrillion-dollar social spending package remains elusive, Democratic leaders publicly admit it won’t be $3.5 trillion.
What now: It may end up in the range of $1.9 to $2.3 trillion, less than half of the $6 trillion progressives initially sought, POLITICO’s Marianne LeVine, Burgess Everett, and Sarah Ferris report. And yet, Senate progressives are still split over whether they’re willing to accept a smaller package. Despite Biden telling Democrats his proposed range last week, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) reiterated that $3.5 trillion was already a compromise, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) noted the Senate already agreed to a $3.5 trillion budget blueprint in August. “It's time for [Senate Majority Leader Chuck] Schumer to bring them in and try to get to a number,” said Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.), referring to Sens. Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) and Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.). “Chuck has to do that. He has to bring them in … Nobody can do it except him because anything that we agree on doesn't matter.” How it happens: Biden in a Friday meeting on the Hill pushed Democrats to think of ways to limit key policies, such as “means-testing” certain proposals and imposing income-based limits. Progressives are opposed to those limits, but moderates aren’t making it easier. Sinema on Saturday blasted Democratic leadership for delaying the vote on the physical infrastructure package — which progressives refuse to back without a vote on social spending. But critics — including a brutal cold open on ‘Saturday Night Live ’ this weekend — argue the Arizona senator hasn’t sent out clear priorities to move the ball forward. Sinema has said she privately shared her priorities with Biden and Schumer, but most of her colleagues don’t know exactly where she stands, Marianne, Burgess and Sarah write. Meanwhile: Outside groups are trying to save their top priorities. The advocacy coalition Southerners for Medicaid Expansion is sending a series of handwritten letters to Biden from low-income people in states that have yet to expand Medicaid, pleading for him to prioritize closing the coverage gap as part of the reconciliation package. BIDEN REVERSES TRUMP ABORTION LIMIT — The administration Monday released a final rule scrapping a Trump-era regulation that barred abortion providers from receiving federal funds and banned all grantees from making abortion referrals. The new policy, first proposed in April, largely returns the Title X federal family planning program to the way it ran for decades before 2019, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein writes. But there are some updates, including a requirement that service sites offer "culturally and linguistically appropriate, inclusive, trauma-informed" family planning care, which HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Rachel Levine said is an attempt to help the program better serve people of color and others who have been historically underserved. The rule will officially take effect on Nov. 8. Hundreds of clinics operated by Planned Parenthood and other providers who left the program will be able to rejoin then, while others will have to wait until early next year. The number of people served by the program plummeted after the Trump administration imposed its version of the rule. More than 20 percent of grantees quit rather than comply, including scores of Planned Parenthood clinics and several health state departments, resulting in at least 844,000 fewer patients served. | 
