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Browse major news stories and see what officials have said.

Sep 23, 2026· Updated

Fauci Invokes the Fifth More Than 100 Times at Senate COVID Hearing as Rand Paul Moves to Hold Him in Contempt

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times during a roughly three-hour hearing before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee on July 29, 2026. Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY), who has referred Fauci to the Justice Department and accuses him of making false statements to Congress and concealing NIH involvement in coronavirus research in Wuhan, called the hearing; Fauci denies the allegations. Fauci's lawyer, David Schertler, described the proceeding as an "obsessive vendetta," and Fauci said the sole purpose was to make him say something that would vindicate Paul's public pledges to put him behind bars. Republicans hold an 8-7 majority on the panel, and several used their time to attack Fauci for declining to answer. Ranking Member Gary Peters (D-MI) called the hearing a partisan exercise. Public health experts warned the episode could have a chilling effect on federal public health staffing. On Tuesday, August 4, 2026, Paul released the text of a contempt resolution against Fauci and scheduled a committee vote for Thursday morning. Paul's position is that Fauci's Fifth Amendment protection no longer applied because of his presidential pardon, and that Fauci waived any remaining privilege by delivering opening testimony — a ruling Paul made from the chair during the hearing before ordering Fauci to answer and warning him about contempt.

“Eight of us are saying let's talk, and Democrats are sitting here like middle schoolers saying no, we don't.”
Bernie Moreno (R-OH) · Sep 23, 2026

Sep 15, 2026· Updated

Two Unvaccinated Pennsylvanians Die of Measles — the First U.S. Measles Deaths of 2026 and the State's First in 35 Years — and the Health Secretary Says the Outbreak Is Under Control and Blames the Lockdowns

On August 25, 2026 the Pennsylvania Department of Health confirmed that two unvaccinated people in Lancaster County had died of measles. They are the first measles-associated deaths reported anywhere in the United States in 2026 and the first in Pennsylvania since 1991. The state has recorded 393 cases across 28 counties this year — its worst measles year since 1992 — with roughly half of them in Lancaster County and about one in five patients hospitalized. The deaths landed on a health secretary who built his public career on vaccine skepticism. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. called Gov. Josh Shapiro to offer federal staff for the outbreak response; Shapiro turned the offer down and told him the administration's rhetoric was itself part of the problem. A day later, at a school-nutrition conference, Kennedy said the United States is "doing a better job than any country in the world at controlling the measles outbreak" and attributed the surge to COVID-era lockdowns rather than to falling vaccination rates. Sen. Angela Alsobrooks (D-MD) called for Kennedy to resign or be fired. Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA) — a physician who chairs the Senate health committee and who voted to confirm Kennedy — did not call for his removal but wrote that "no one needs to die from measles in 2026" and blamed misinformation and misguided policy. The deaths come two weeks after Trump signed an executive order cutting the childhood vaccine schedule and splitting the MMR shot into three separate doses, an order Cassidy had already called "a stupid thing to do."

“Governor Shapiro has chosen to politicize this outbreak instead of implementing a unified public health response. He continues to point the finger at me and the federal government.”
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (I-CA) · Sep 15, 2026

The Pentagon Quietly Signs a Ten-Year Agreement Letting It Draw on the NIH’s Infectious-Disease Budget — Up to $2 Billion, Close to a Third of the Institute’s Money — and the Top Appropriations Democrats in Both Chambers Say It Was Done Behind Congress’s Back

On Thursday, September 3, 2026, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), the ranking Democrat on House Appropriations, disclosed that the Department of Defense had signed an interagency agreement with the National Institutes of Health that "facilitates the transfer of funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to the Office of the Assistant Secretary of War." The agreement runs to 2036 and names no dollar figure. People familiar with it estimated that as much as $2 billion could move out of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases — close to a third of an institute whose annual budget is roughly $7 billion, and the money Congress appropriated for research on HIV, influenza, tuberculosis, malaria and Ebola. The stated purpose is "the advanced development of medical countermeasures against pandemic influenza, chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear (CBRN) threats, and emerging infectious diseases." The Pentagon posted a redacted copy of the agreement on September 4. Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), the Senate’s top Democratic appropriator, and DeLauro both demanded the agreement be terminated outright, and both tied it to the Pentagon’s cash crunch: the department is six months into the Iran war, the Navy has been raiding its own payroll accounts, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s $350 billion reconciliation request has gone nowhere in either chamber. NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya publicly defended the deal as a research partnership rather than a diversion, saying the work would be led by NIAID and would be "100% aligned with our public health mission." A White House spokesman said no money was being transferred to the Pentagon at all, calling it "a project-by-project research partnership." As of this writing no congressional Republican had publicly weighed in.

“NIH funds should be used to improve the health of Americans. Far from siphoning money away from research, this partnership between @NIH and @DeptofWar focuses on research projects that will drive discoveries to improve the health of American citizens and members of the military. Led by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, all work will be 100% aligned with our public health mission.”
Jay Bhattacharya (R) · Sep 4, 2026

Aug 23, 2026· Updated

Trump Signs an Executive Order Cutting the Childhood Vaccine Schedule and Splitting the MMR Shot Into Three, and the Republican Chairman of the Senate Health Committee Calls It "a Stupid Thing to Do"

On August 10, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order titled "Delivering Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations for Americans," standing alongside Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. The order directs the federal government to cut the list of diseases against which all children are universally recommended to be vaccinated — reporting put the change at 17 or 18 shots down to 11 — and states that the combined measles-mumps-rubella vaccine "should be administered in three separate single-disease shots once such products are domestically available," with childhood immunizations given at separate medical visits "to the maximum extent feasible." It also directs federal agencies to support litigation involving parental authority and religious exemptions to school-entry requirements. Trump repeatedly tied the changes to autism, a link that decades of research have not found. The sharpest congressional criticism came from a Republican: Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-La.), a physician who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, posted on X the day the order was signed that "this executive order is wrong" and that "the President does not have the expertise to make these changes." Cassidy escalated on a Sunday show six days later, arguing the split MMR would turn two shots into six, six copays and six missed work days, and calling the policy "just a stupid thing to do" and "potentially tragic." Congressional Democrats — including the caucus's physician members — attacked the order as politics overriding science, with House Energy and Commerce ranking member Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) saying it "lets political appointees attempt to overrule decades of peer-reviewed science." Medical groups, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, said no new evidence justified the change and warned about timing: U.S. measles cases are at a 35-year high. States pushed back too. School vaccine requirements are set at the state level and are unaffected by the order; Pennsylvania said its guidelines would not change, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker dismissed the order as "a thoughtless piece of paper," and the Governors Public Health Alliance said the order "circumvents that process and defies scientific consensus."

“Spreading out that vaccination schedule, I think, does make sense — [it gives] an infant human body the ability to actually absorb and deal with that rate of vaccination.”
Byron Donalds (R-FL) · Aug 23, 2026

Trump Forces Out FDA Commissioner Marty Makary After 13 Months

FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary resigned on May 12, 2026 after President Trump signed off on his ouster — ending a turbulent 13-month tenure marked by conflicts with the White House, anti-abortion groups, and the vaping industry. Makary was caught in crossfire from multiple directions: Trump was furious that Makary tried to block FDA approval of fruit-flavored e-cigarettes, citing their appeal to children. Anti-abortion groups including Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America demanded his removal for slow-walking a safety review of the abortion pill mifepristone. Pharmaceutical industry allies were also critical of his leadership style. Trump praised Makary as a "wonderful man" who would "lead a good life." Kyle Diamantas, the FDA's Deputy Commissioner for Food, was named acting FDA chief pending a permanent replacement requiring Senate confirmation. Democrats praised Makary as someone who resisted White House pressure on vaping, while several Republican senators — unhappy about the mifepristone delay — welcomed his departure and called for a more explicitly pro-life successor.

“Dr. Makary was part of a broader symptom of an administration that has not paid attention to pro-life issues. I care deeply about life, and I anticipate the next FDA nominee shall as well.”
Bill Cassidy (R-LA) · May 12, 2026