President Donald Trump has announced a deal with Regeneron to lower the cost of its pharmaceutical products. The agreement, announced Thursday, includes lowering the prices of current and future drugs on Medicaid and selling a cholesterol drug for $225 on the White House’s discounted drug website, TrumpRx. The deal first reported by NOTUS is part of the Trump administration's efforts to provide economic relief to Americans ahead of the midterm elections. It's one of many deals the White House has struck that aim to align U.S. pharmaceutical prices with other developed nations. Details of these agreements remain undisclosed, but Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. says nonproprietary information will be shared with Congress.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been disputing claims of Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump's 2025 tax and spending law. During recent budget hearings, Kennedy repeatedly insisted there are no cuts, citing a Congressional Budget Office report showing a 47% increase in Medicaid spending over the next decade. However, analysts argue his framing is misleading. They say an inevitable increase in Medicaid spending due to factors like population growth and rising health costs doesn't negate the fact that there was a cut. They explain that the law's reforms are projected to cut the program's spending by nearly $1 trillion over a decade.
Vaccines, budget cuts and affordability: Takeaways from RFK Jr.’s gauntlet of congressional hearings
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has concluded a marathon of budget hearings with federal lawmakers. Throughout a week of hearings, he deflected blame for measles outbreaks and dwindling vaccination rates and touted several initiatives that he says are making health care more affordable. Kennedy was tasked with defending President Donald Trump’s proposed 2027 budget, which would cut more than 12% of funding from Kennedy’s department. In response to bipartisan concerns about funding reductions, Kennedy said they were “painful.” As the week wore on, and with Democrats coming out swinging, Kennedy became more defiant, even at times screaming his rebuttals. Experts said his claim that the federal government isn't cutting Medicaid doesn't align with the facts.
President Donald Trump’s budget director is telling Congress that it'll take a massive upfront investment to ramp up U.S. weapons production and build more ships, planes and drones. Russell Vought was on Capitol Hill for a hearing Wednesday before the House Budget Committee. His testimony jump-starts the White House’s effort to increase defense spending to nearly $1.5 trillion in the next fiscal year, up from nearly $1 trillion this year, while also cutting health research, heating assistance and scores of other domestic programs by about 10% overall. Democratic lawmakers say asking for a more than 40% increase in defense while cutting other programs shows that the administration's priorities are “out of whack.”
For the Trump family, business is booming. Whereas the Trump Organization didn’t do a single deal overseas in Donald Trump’s first term as president, it did eight in the past year. It got more than double the money in four months selling Trump “meme” coins than it did in four years running a massive Washington D.C. hotel. And there are more potential conflicts as the family makes money investing in companies dependent on federal contracts and seeking taxpayer funded grants and loans. Some historians worry how Trump’s approach might influence future holders of the office.
California Rep. Eric Swalwell is vowing to aggressively push back on federal immigration officers if elected governor. The Democrat says he would use the office to make federal agents ineligible for state jobs and take away their driver’s licenses if they refuse to unmask while on duties. He hasn't specified how he’d advance those policies. Swalwell is among a crowded field jostling to replace Gov. Gavin Newsom who terms out after this year. Swalwell says he has a proven record of fighting Trump. Mail-in ballots begin going out next month ahead of the June 2 primary.
Environmental groups urge appeals court panel to lift halt on closing Florida's 'Alligator Alcatraz'
Environmental groups have asked a federal appellate court panel to lift its temporary halt on closing an immigration detention center in the Florida Everglades. Known as “Alligator Alcatraz,” the center remains open due to arguments by Florida and the Trump administration. They claimed the state hadn't gotten federal reimbursement, so it wasn’t required to follow federal environmental law. On Tuesday, during a hearing in Miami, the judges questioned how much control the federal government had over the state-built facility. Florida was notified in late September of $608 million in federal funding approval. The environmental lawsuit was one of three federal challenges to the facility since it opened.
U.S. President Donald Trump repeated his threat to hit Iran’s critical infrastructure hard if the country’s government doesn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz by his Monday deadline. He said in a profanity-laced social media post Sunday that Tuesday will be “Power Plant Day, and Bridge Day, all wrapped up in one, in Iran.” He also offered details of the rescue of a “seriously wounded” colonel who had been missing since Friday when Iran shot down a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle. Trump wrote that the Iranian military was “looking hard, in big numbers, and getting close” to the aviator. Trump said the other F-15 pilot had been rescued earlier in “broad daylight” after seven hours over Iran.
Harvard University has announced that it has filed suit to halt a federal freeze on more than $2.2 billion in grants after the institution said it would defy the Trump administration’s demands to limit activism on campus. It said the suit was filed Monday in Boston federal court. The Trump administration had recently called in a letter to Harvard for broad government and leadership reforms at the university, as well as changes to its admissions policies. It also demanded that the university audit views of diversity on campus, and stop recognizing some student clubs. Harvard President Alan Garber said the university would not bend to the government’s demands. Hours later, the government froze billions of dollars in federal funding.
After decades of partnership with the U.S. government, American colleges are facing new doubts about the future of their federal funding. President Donald Trump’s administration has been using the funding spigot as a tool to seek compliance with his agenda. And universities across the country are navigating cuts to grants for research institutions. The squeeze on higher education underscores how much American colleges depend on the federal government. In fact, an Associated Press analysis found the government provides grants and contracts worth close to half the total revenue of some research universities.