The Supreme Court ruled the Trump administration can slash hundreds of millions of dollars’ worth of research funding in its push to cut federal diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, the AP reports.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promised to identify the causes of autism but has eliminated parts of his agency actively investigating them and has cut millions in funding for autism research, ProPublica reports.

And once an ardent environmentalist who took on big polluters, Kennedy has been silent on Trump’s dismantling of efforts to combat climate change and pollution.

“Kennedy would be less hazardous if he decided to do cardiac surgery. Then he would kill people only one at a time rather than his current ability to kill by the thousands.”

– Former CDC Director William Foege, quoted by Stat, on Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

New York Times: “The former Texas governor and Trump energy secretary has now dedicated his life to promoting the powerful psychedelic ibogaine.”

“The independent watchdog for the Department of Veterans Affairs said the agency’s health system is facing a severe staffing shortage of clinical and nonclinical workers that has worsened since last year — at the same time the agency has shed tens of thousands of workers and recruited fewer medical workers,” the Washington Post reports.

Cheryl Hines told the Wall Street Journal she is standing by her husband, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: “We love each other and are still married and whatever we’ve been through is behind us.”

“Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s decision to cut federal funding for mRNA vaccine research is the latest in a series of moves that have the potential to crush future medical breakthroughs and accelerate a brain drain,” Axios reports.

“America has historically led the world in scientific innovation — driving economic growth, strengthening national security, and attracting global talent. But scientists, including some who served in Trump’s first administration, warn that lead is slipping away.”

“President Trump is considering reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug, after pot companies have poured millions of dollars into Trump’s political groups,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“President Trump’s laissez-faire approach is notable, given that the development of the Covid vaccine was seen as one of his first term’s most notable achievements,” the New York Times reports.

Said Trump: “That was now a long time ago, and we’re onto other things.”

“Pressure on Congress to renew Affordable Care Act subsidies is likely to ramp up this fall as notices of 2026 premium increases go out and consumers get their first warnings that huge rate hikes could be coming,” Axios reports.

“Backers of renewing the enhanced tax credits, which expire at the end of this year, hope the sticker shock could motivate Republicans to get behind a short-term reauthorization to avoid an uproar over premium increases in an election year.”

Jonathan Chait: “Here’s a piece of Republican rhetoric that used to be ubiquitous but that you never hear anymore: America has the best health-care system in the world.”

“Republican politicians liked this line because it helped them dismiss the idea that the system needed major reform. American health care at its finest offered the most advanced treatments anywhere. Democrats wanted to expand coverage, but why mess with perfection?”

“In Donald Trump’s second term, Republicans haven’t given up their opposition to universal coverage—far from it—but they have mostly stopped singing the praises of American health-care innovation. Indeed, they are taking a meat axe to it, slashing medical-research funding while elevating quacks and charlatans to positions of real power. The resulting synthesis is the worst of all worlds: a system that will lose its ability to develop new cures, while withholding its benefits from even more of the poor and sick.”

“As a record number of people in the U.S. are sickened with measles, researchers are resurrecting the search for something long-deemed redundant: treatments for the viral disease,” the Wall Street Journal reports.

“After the measles vaccine was introduced in the 1960s, cases of the disease plummeted. By 2000, federal officials had declared measles eliminated from the U.S. This success led to little interest in the development of treatments. But now, as vaccination rates fall and infections rise, scientists are racing to develop drugs they say could prevent or treat the disease in vulnerable and unvaccinated people.”

“President Trump plans to levy a stepwise series of pharmaceutical tariffs that could reach 150% within a year and a half, then rise to 250%,“ Axios reports.

“It’s the highest tariff rate the president has threatened the industry with to date while he also presses major manufacturers to commit to a ‘most-favored nation’ pricing policy.”

“Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the health secretary and a longtime vaccine critic, announced in a statement Tuesday that $500 million worth of vaccine development projects, all using mRNA technology, will be halted,” the AP reports.

“The projects — 22 of them — are being led by some of the nation’s leading pharmaceutical companies like Pfizer and Moderna to prevent flu, Covid-19 and H5N1 infections.”

“We have full support from the president. He wants this done. He wants — he promised to make American health again, and he’s gonna do that. He called me last night. He calls me three or four times a week and says, ‘Where are you? Why aren’t people healthier yet?’”

— Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., at a press conference.

“The White House does not plan to require health insurers to provide coverage for in vitro fertilization services, even though the idea was one of President Donald Trump’s key campaign pledges,” the Washington Post reports.

“Last year, Trump said that if he returned to office, the government would either pay for IVF services or issue rules requiring insurance companies to cover treatment for it. The pledge came as Trump faced political blowback over abortion rights after his appointees to the Supreme Court helped overturn Roe v. Wade.”

“The Trump administration is blocking funding for a swath of public-health programs run by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the latest flashpoint in a push by the White House to withhold money already approved by Congress,”the Wall Street Journal reports.

“A range of programs won’t be fully funded under the freeze. These include youth violence prevention programs, research on preventing gun injuries and deaths and efforts targeting diabetes, chronic kidney disease and tobacco use. It couldn’t be determined how much the withheld money would amount to, but it could be as high as $200 million, according to one of the people familiar with the matter. Another person familiar estimated the amount to be more than $300 million.”