Updates & Analysis

On May 11th, the House Energy and Commerce Committee released legislative text for their proposed changes to health care and other policies as part of the anticipated Republican reconciliation bill. The Committee will hold a markup hearing on this bill tomorrow (May 13th) at 2pm ET. A live stream of the hearing and links to the legislative…

In this update:  Administration Updates President Trump Submits Budget RequestOn May 2nd, President Trump submitted his discretionary budget recommendations to Congress for fiscal year (FY) 2026. Presidential budget recommendations largely serve as messaging documents, providing a sense of an administration’s priorities. Congressional appropriators have no obligation to abide by any President’s budget requests. This budget requests…

On May 7th and 8th, the New York State Legislature passed the Enacted Budget covering New York State Fiscal Year (FY) 2026, which runs from April 1, 2025 to March 31, 2026. While the final Budget package has not been delivered as of today (May 9th), Governor Kathy Hochul is expected to sign the bills shortly.…

In this update:  Legislative Update House Energy & Commerce Advances Health Care Legislation On April 29th, the House Energy and Commerce (E&C) Committee marked up and favorably reported six bipartisan health care bills. These bills were also advanced last Congress, but were not enacted. Much of the debate centered around reauthorizing programs housed in the Substance…

In this update:  Administration Updates White House Replaces Covid-19 Informational Website With Lab Leak TheoryOn April 18th, the Trump Administration replaced the main Covid-19 informational website, covid.gov, with a website arguing the merits of the lab leak theory. The website details the Wuhan Institute of Virology, with its history of gain-of-function research, and the potential…

In this update:  Administrative Updates OMB Outlines Mass Reorganization of HHS in Leaked DocumentOn April 17th, a 64-page PDF was leaked from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) detailing plans for a mass reorganization of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). The document – dated April 10th – includes a header noting…

In this update:  Administration Updates Several Battles Continue Over NIH Grants and ContractsOver the past week, funding battles continued over the future of National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants and contracts:  Legislative Update House Passes Budget Blueprint On April 10th, the House of Representatives passed a budget resolution by a vote of 216-214, after delays due…

In this update:  NYS and NYC Opportunities OMH Releases RFP for HBCI Services for Individuals with I/DD On April 3rd, the New York State (NYS) Office of Mental Health (OMH) released a Request for Proposals (RFP) for pilot Home Based Crisis Intervention (HBCI) teams that will serve youth with co-occurring mental health disorders and intellectual and/or…

In this update:  Administration Updates Trump Chooses Fox News Personality Sara Carter for Drug CzarOn March 28th, President Trump announced his selection of Sara Carter of Fox News to serve as the next head of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP), also known as the nation’s “drug czar”. Carter’s background does…

In this update:  NYS and NYC Opportunities OMH Issues RFP for Youth Safe Spaces ProgramOn March 27th, the New York State (NYS) Office of Mental Health (OMH) issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for 3-5 pilot Youth Safe Spaces Programs targeting individuals ages 12-24. Funding will support both the development of new standalone Youth Safe…

In this update:  Administration Updates President Trump Signs Executive Order on Eliminating Information SilosOn March 20th, President Donald Trump signed an Executive Order (EO) entitled “Stopping Waste, Fraud, and Abuse by Eliminating Information Silos.” The principal objective of the EO is to promote “intra- and inter-agency sharing” of unclassified agency records. Specifically, the EO orders the…