Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Senate Panel Votes To Advance Contempt Of Congress Charge Against Fauci
A Senate committee voted Thursday to hold Anthony S. Fauci in contempt of Congress after the longtime infectious-disease scientist declined to answer its questions and accused the committee chairman, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky), of trying to wrongly entrap him. The panel voted 8-7 to hold Fauci, who helped lead the nation鈥檚 response to the coronavirus pandemic, in contempt after he repeatedly invoked his Fifth Amendment right not to testify in a hearing before the Senate鈥檚 government oversight committee last week. (Diamond and Liss-Roy, 8/6)
On the eve of a planned vote by a Senate committee on whether to hold Dr. Anthony S. Fauci in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions at a hearing last week, the chairman of a separate panel said that he has obtained a copy of Dr. Fauci鈥檚 cellphone. 鈥淗opefully, this device will address many of the questions he refused to answer at last week鈥檚 hearing,鈥 Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin and chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, wrote on social media Wednesday night. (Stolberg, 8/5)
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Wednesday that his office, alongside two other red states, issued a subpoena to former Covid czar Anthony Fauci for records tied to grant money, awards and book deals, among other areas of investigation. A pandemic diary kept by Fauci, a consistent GOP target for his Covid-era decision-making, was released just before a Senate hearing last month in which he declined to answer questions Homeland Security Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Just hours after the hearing, Uthmeier announced a Florida investigation into Fauci. (Sarkissian, 8/5)
PolitiFact compared Anthony Fauci's private writings with what he said publicly about COVID's origins, school closures and masks. (Tuquero, 8/4)
In related news 鈥
Steven Quay, MD, PhD, is reportedly in final vetting for the job of director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a position formerly held by Anthony Fauci, MD, for decades. So, who is he? Quay is the founder, CEO, and chairman of Atossa Therapeutics, a biotech company based in Seattle that's focused on breast cancer treatments. But he also made a name for himself during the COVID pandemic by promoting the lab-leak theory of COVID origins. (Fiore, 8/5)
Other health news from Capitol Hill 鈥
吃瓜不打烊: 吃瓜不打烊鈥 鈥榃hat The Health?鈥: Watch: Democratic Senator Proposes A Fix For American Healthcare 鈥 Covering All Kids
In this 鈥淗ow Would You Fix It?鈥 interview, Julie Rovner, 吃瓜不打烊鈥 chief Washington correspondent and host of the What the Health? podcast, sat down with Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, to discuss his proposal to grant all kids access to health coverage. Kim, who serves on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said it is 鈥渁 real dereliction of our duty that we have not found a way to be able to ensure that every child is able to go see a doctor when they need to without breaking the bank.鈥 (Rovner, 8/6)
After decades of procrastination, Congress is beginning to grapple with a Social Security shortfall set to slash benefit checks in six years unless lawmakers fix it. But instead of discussing actual fixes, a Senate Finance Committee hearing Wednesday focused on how to kick-start the painful debate to come. (Thompson, 8/5)