BIDEN ADMIN LOOKS FOR MOMENTUM IN CLIMATE CHANGE FIGHT — Minutes after top Biden officials began a White House summit on climate change and health Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a blow to the administration’s core climate change goals. The courtruled Thursday that the Environmental Protection Agency doesn’t have the authority to confront climate change, dealing a massive blow to the Biden administration’s climate change efforts. It’s not just about environmental protections. The ruling could have far-ranging implications for federal health agencies, with potential challenges to Affordable Care Act coverage, policies to lower drug prices and the Health and Human Services Department’s nascent climate change and health office. “The court’s ruling in West Virginia vs. EPA is yet another very challenging decision from our Supreme Court,” HHS Assistant Secretary for Health Admiral Rachel Levine told Pulse. “And this decision does risk, damaging our nation’s ability to keep our air clean and to combat climate change. But we’re not going to relent in our efforts at all.” Levine was joined at the roundtable by the White House’s first National Climate Adviser Gina McCarthy, HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra, WH Domestic Policy Council Director Susan Rice, Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough and nearly two dozen executives from hospitals, pharmaceutical companies and medical suppliers. “The public health impacts from our changing climate are already being felt, and they're undeniable,” McCarthy told the room. “The argument is no longer whether climate change exists, it’s what we’re going to do about it.” But as Levine pointed out in a conversation after the summit, the companies at the table — including Pfizer, Vizient, Kaiser Permanente, Philips and major hospitals — were “the most enthusiastic in this space” and had already signed a pledge to reduce their carbon footprint and build climate change–resistant infrastructure. Today, HHSreopened its pledge until late October . But there isn’t a clear way to compel the industry into better climate change practices or preparations for climate-induced disasters and new norms like soaring summer temperatures. “I have always firmly believed, from my pediatric training, is that positive reinforcement works better than negative reinforcements,” Levine said. (Worth noting: HHS’ climate change office is still without funding, though the 2023 proposed HHS budget would give it $3 million.) It extends far past HHS. “As many of you who are trained in our facilities know, our facilities are inefficient and wasteful,” McDonough said during the meeting. “This has been a survival issue for us, especially since Congress just decided earlier this week that we shouldn't modernize,” he said, referring to an effort blocked this week by 12 senators, including West Virginia’sJoe Manchin and Shelly Moore Capito, to form a commission assessing VA care. HOUSE PANEL ADVANCES HHS BUDGET — The House Appropriations Committee approved a $242 billion bill to fund HHS and the Education and Labor departments by a 32-24 party-line vote Thursday, setting it up for a floor vote this month. The markup was dominated by debate over abortion. Republicans proposed re-adding the Hyde Amendment, a longstanding ban on federal money covering abortion services. But Democrats rejected that argument given the Supreme Court ruling returned abortion policies to states, POLITICO’s Lauren Gardner reports. The committee ultimately rejected the amendment in a 26-31 vote, with Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar joining Republicans in the losing effort. Covid-19, gun violence and the border: Democrats also turned back efforts by Republican members to block spending on Covid-19 vaccination rules and on any attempt by HHS to declare a public health emergency “for the purposes of gun control.” THE DEMOCRATIC PRIMARIES AND ABORTION RIGHTS — The only way Democrats can codify Roe v. Wade into law is with a world-beating bank shot that requires two new votes to weaken the filibuster, our Burgess Everett writes. Enter Wisconsin. Senate races in that state and Pennsylvania represent Democrats’ best chance to net two extra Senate seats — enough, presumably, to chip away at chamber rules that empower the minority party to block legislation. President Joe Biden boosted their effort Thursday by endorsing an exemption to the 60-vote threshold to preserve nationwide abortion rights. Ahead of Wisconsin’s Aug. 9 primary, the Supreme Court’s Roe decision supercharged competition among the leading Democratic contenders to take on Republican incumbent Ron Johnson. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and House Majority Whip Jim Clyburn (D-S.C.) are backing Mandela Barnes, Wisconsin’s 35-year-old lieutenant governor who’s led the polls for months. However, 34-year-old Milwaukee Bucks executive Alex Lasry is catching up afterspending millions of his own dollars. Two others, state treasurer Sarah Godlewski and Outagamie County Executive Tom Nelson, fill out the race. The biggest difference among them: Whether or not to add seats to the Supreme Court. Nelson supports it, Barnes is open and Godlewski and Lasry oppose.
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