The Trump administration is stepping into the extraordinary surrogacy fight pitting a surrogate against a baby’s biological parents, warning hospitals that the child, who was born with a heart defect, must receive life-saving care as a tense legal battle unfolds.
The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) submitted a letter to Children’s Medical Center of Dallas and UT Southwestern Medical Center reminding them of their obligations to treat the child under federal disability civil rights law, <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/us/hhs-warns-texas-hospitals-denying-life-saving-care-newborn-disability">according to Fox News.</a> 
HHS said federal disability protections bar doctors from withholding care because of a patient’s condition, including the belief that a disabled person’s life is less worthy or that their care would place a burden on others, the outlet reported.
McKenna West, a single mother of two children, delivered baby Gabriel Wednesday in the Dallas area after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton secured a court order requiring him to receive life-saving medical care when his surrogate rejected demands from his biological parents to abort him.
At 20 weeks, Gabriel was diagnosed in utero with hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) — a serious but treatable congenital heart condition that typically requires three staged surgeries. After learning of the diagnosis, his biological parents, Nausheen Gilkar and Omar Ahmed, demanded that West travel to California to abort the child, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/red-state-comes-to-rescue-of-surrogate-mom-facing-pressure-to-kill-baby?author=Jacob+Wheeler&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Red+State+Comes+To+Rescue+Of+Surrogate+Mom+Facing+Pressure+To+Kill+Baby">The Daily Wire</a> previously reported.
“So we were all really upset. It was completely unexpected. Everything had been going great,” West, who became pregnant through IVF, told <a href="https://www.liveaction.org/news/surrogate-fights-baby-heart-condition-refusing-abortion">Live Action News</a>. “I was full of fear and stress of what they were going to choose. I was feeling pretty confident that they were going to choose termination, and how could I possibly live with myself going through that?”
West refused the abortion demand and fled to Dallas, where she sought legal protection and access to doctors experienced in treating Gabriel’s condition.
Most surrogacy contracts include provisions giving the intended parents a say in whether to terminate a pregnancy. <a href="http://surrogate.com">Surrogate.com</a> says surrogates cannot be forced to undergo an abortion, but refusing to comply with a contractual agreement could carry “financial and legal consequences.”
West says having the baby could cost her $200,000 — a price she was willing to pay.
“This is my body, and I absolutely don’t want to go through this. Nothing was scarier than questioning my own soul and knowing what would happen to this baby boy,” she told Lila Rose, president and founder of Live Action. “His life doesn’t have a price tag on it. There’s nothing that they could try to come after me for that would be worth his life.”
Gabriel’s biological parents are now speaking out through their attorneys, accusing Paxton’s office of turning the case into “political theater” through its legal actions.
“Our clients’ child was born earlier this morning and he is now receiving medical care provided by a team of pediatric experts,” attorney Lee Budner said in a statement to The <a href="https://www.texastribune.org/2026/08/12/texas-surrogacy-california-alaska-parental-rights/">Texas Tribune</a>. “McKenna West’s baseless attempts to intervene in the child’s medical care have been soundly rejected by the courts.”
“Our clients’ only focus at this time is ensuring that their baby receives the medical care that he vitally needs and that they, as his parents, are able to spend every precious moment they can with him,” Budner added.
In court filings, Gabriel’s biological parents accused West of initially agreeing to terminate the pregnancy before reversing course, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/couple-surrogate-claims-wanted-baby-aborted-break-silence-as-red-state-steps-in?author=Amanda+Harding&amp;category=undefined&amp;elementPosition=11&amp;row=3&amp;rowHeadline=Latest+News&amp;rowType=Vertical+Carousel&amp;title=Couple+Surrogate+Claims+Wanted+Baby+Aborted+Break+Silence+As+Red+State+Steps+In">The Daily Wire</a> reported. 
“It is undisputed that West initially agreed and that she herself made the initial appointment. She then unilaterally changed her mind, cut off all contact with A.B. and C.D., and withdrew medical releases allowing A.B. and C.D. to have contact with all medical providers,” the filing said.
A Dallas judge granted the biological couple’s request for a temporary restraining order against West and blocked her from making any medical decisions for the child she was carrying.
A California court ruled that Gilkar and Ahmed are the legal parents of the baby. But Lincoln Wilson, an attorney for West, said that his client “is lawfully the parent because she gave birth to this child that she carries in Texas, then she should control custody as well.”
A hearing is scheduled for August 25.

03472245-d5f3-4d06-86f8-c7c45e404491

Trump Admin Steps Into Surrogate’s Fight For Newborn’s Life-Saving Care

abortion

health and human services

hypoplastic left heart syndrome

ken paxton

surrogacy dispute

texas

On Monday, President Trump signed an executive order that backed fewer routine vaccines for kids.
I&#8217;m actually rather indifferent to this. The reason I&#8217;m indifferent to this is that different countries have different standards for the number and the schedule for childhood vaccines.
Some of these vaccines are recommendations; they&#8217;re not mandates. But when you are talking about the vaccinations that are most likely to prevent health problems, they&#8217;re not all equivalent.
The HPV vaccine is for a sexually transmitted disease that typically leads to cancer. Thus, it seems it should be a matter of parental choice. If you are deeply worried that your kid is going to get HPV from something based on their activity, that is not quite the same as the MMR vaccine, which is for something that is infectious.
The reason the Europeans do it differently very often has to do with their nationalized health care systems: how often you are expected to visit the doctor, the prevalence of particular diseases in particular countries, etc. So that’s a little more complicated than people may think.
But I will tell you what is not particularly complicated. There is no data, none, that links vaccines to autism. This is not a scientifically-backed concept.
<a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/ben-shapiro-show-ep-2483?elementPosition=1&amp;row=0&amp;rowHeadline=Recent+Episodes&amp;rowType=Horizontal+Show+Episodes+Carousel"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-981859" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif" alt="" width="1024" height="171" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner.avif 1024w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-300x50.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/10/ben-banner-768x128.jpg 768w" sizes=" (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /></a>
But this is what the president was promoting on Monday. I object to this because data and science show this is inaccurate.
This has been a big push by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for years. The president suggested that breaking up the vaccine schedule would decrease the prevalence of autism. The data do not exist for this proposition. They don&#8217;t.
Trump stated, “It is essential to our research efforts that we have the very best vaccine recommendations in the entire world. So we&#8217;re reducing them. We&#8217;re changing it to visits over a period of a year or year and a half so they get 20% of what they would have gotten in one big shot.”
When he says “one big shot,” he says that as though it&#8217;s a water bottle filled with vaccine.
I don&#8217;t have a problem with changing the vaccine schedule, but suggesting that this is going to reduce autism diagnoses in the United States is not backed by any evidence.
The person most associated with promoting this nonsense is gone — Andrew Wakefield. He published a paper in 1998 suggesting that there was a link between vaccination and autism. In the original paper — which was later retracted by The Lancet — Wakefield and 12 co-authors <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2831678/">claimed</a> to have investigated a consecutive series of 12 children referred to the Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine with chronic enterocolitis and regressive developmental disorder. The authors reported that the parents of eight of the 12 children associated their loss of acquired skills, including language, with the MMR vaccine.
Number one: That was self-reported. Number two: That was an extraordinarily small sample size. Number three: Wakefield had been selecting these people, and his research had been funded by lawyers acting for the parents who were trying to sue the vaccine manufacturers.
The British General Medical Council found that Wakefield had acted unethically and had shown callous disregard for the children in his study, upon whom the invasive tests were performed. And all of this was fueled by Wakefield pushing single vaccines rather than, for example, the combined MMR. The new schedule that Trump is suggesting separates M from MR, measles from mumps and rubella, as opposed to one shot.
The reason all this was combined was to minimize inconvenience and ensure kids got the full battery of vaccines. Separating them off, the idea goes, means three separate visits. How many parents want to go to the doctor three separate times, as opposed to just doing it once and being done with it?
I&#8217;m not arguing that we can&#8217;t make changes to the vaccine schedule based on the best possible science or good decision-making, but the attempt to link this with autism diagnosis is not scientific.
RFK Jr. argued that there has been a skyrocketing increase in autism diagnoses after 1990.
The reason that exists is that the Americans with Disabilities Act was passed in 1975. It funded schools to a greater extent because of disability claims. In 1990, the federal government reset the standards for disability claims in schools, and they included autism.
So it turns out that if you are a school and you wish for additional federal or state monies, a great way to do that is through additional autism claims. It’s the same thing with ADHD, by the way.
How do I know that this is a case of incentives creating outcomes? Because there is a study done this year that compared autism prevalence by functional severity.
Anyone who has ever met kids with actual severe autism, moderate to profound autism, knows it is real.
But if you&#8217;re weird or if you have a particular skill set or if you&#8217;re kind of smart, people will say that you&#8217;re autistic now, which is stupid.
Autism is a real thing, and severe autism is disabling. Kids with severe autism very often cannot talk. They cannot interact in society. Having moderate autism means that you largely cannot fully interact. You very often need full-time care.
It is not the same thing as “You&#8217;re a weirdo with a 158 IQ.” Autism is not just “Your buddy’s a little bit weird around people.”
Guess what? It turns out that prevalence by functional severity, meaning diagnoses of moderate to profound autism, has been down since 2000. The diagnosis of moderate to profound autism was 1.5 per 1000 children in 2000. It is 1.2 per 1000 children in 2016.
Real hardcore autism is actually slightly down between 2000 and 2016. How about mild autism? The diagnosis rate for eight-year-olds has more than doubled. In 2000, it was 3.1 per 1000 children. Now it is 7.3 per 1000 children. Borderline autism has absolutely skyrocketed.
If autism diagnoses are increasing across the board, wouldn&#8217;t you expect more moderate to profound cases? Why is moderate to profound declining, while mild and borderline are wildly increasing?
So if you’re mild, borderline, or have no significant challenges, there has been a massive increase in diagnoses; if you&#8217;re moderate to profound autism, a decrease in diagnoses.
What could explain this? Could it be the possibility that, just as the number of COVID-attributed deaths skyrocketed when the federal government started paying hospitals based on COVID deaths, and so people started mislabeling heart attacks as COVID, could it be we&#8217;re getting a mass overdiagnosis?
It turns out that public policy has this impact on a wide variety of maladies. There was a pretty massive increase in disability all the way up to about 1978-79. That’s because the federal government started making Social Security disability more widely available then.
It turned out that a lot of people were engaging in fraud. And so a bunch of restrictions were imposed, resulting in a complete flatlining of disability spending between 1978 and roughly 1990.
Then there was a recession, and people started claiming disability to get the money; the government loosened it up, and boom, exponential growth.
It&#8217;s almost as though people respond to incentive structures.
Why am I pointing this out? Because data matters.
And this, to me, remains the greatest sin of people like Anthony Fauci. They destroyed any faith in data.

follow the science

The Cardinal Sin That Shattered America’s Trust

anthony fauci

autism

donald trump

robert f kennedy jr

vaccine

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Monday directing the federal government to overhaul childhood vaccine recommendations, delivering a major policy victory to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Make America Healthy Again movement.
The order, dubbed “Gold Standard Childhood Vaccine Recommendations,” calls for reducing the number of diseases for which vaccines are routinely recommended for all children, spacing out childhood immunizations, and eventually administering the combined measles, mumps and rubella vaccine as three separate shots.
Under the order, vaccines for 11 diseases, including measles, mumps, rubella, polio and whooping cough, would be recommended for all children, down from 18 under the current schedule. Vaccines for several other diseases, including hepatitis A and B and meningococcal disease, would instead be recommended for certain higher-risk groups or through shared decision-making between parents and doctors. Influenza and COVID-19 vaccines would also fall into the shared decision-making category.
The order also directs federal agencies to work toward making separate measles, mumps and rubella vaccines available in the United States. “To the maximum extent feasible,” it calls for childhood immunizations to be administered at separate medical visits. 
Trump defended the changes during an Oval Office signing ceremony, saying they would reduce the number of vaccines administered during individual visits and arguing that parents should have greater control over when their children receive shots. 
“It’s inconvenient, it’s five stops, but it’s something that I think will have a huge impact on autism,” Trump said.
Trump has repeatedly suggested that childhood vaccines could be connected to rising autism diagnoses. Numerous large studies have found no association between the MMR vaccines and autism. The president also acknowledged Monday that he did not have scientific evidence for a claim he made that the current MMR vaccine could be “lethal.”
“What I’ve heard is that there are some people that say it is that way, and I say, ‘Well, let’s say there’s a 5 percent chance of it; let’s split it up,’” Trump said. 
Secretary Kennedy, who has promoted vaccine skepticism for years and made reshaping federal vaccine policy a central part of his tenure at the Department of Health and Human Services, stood alongside Trump during the announcement.
The order directs HHS to develop proposed changes to the childhood vaccine schedule within 90 days. It also calls for additional research into vaccine safety, alternative vaccine ingredients and the timing and sequencing of childhood immunizations.
The practical effect of the order remains uncertain. States generally determine which vaccines children must receive to attend public schools, rather than the federal government, and individual measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines are not currently available in the United States. Manufacturers would have to develop and obtain approval for each product separately.
The order acknowledges that similar previous directives have been <a href="https://www.npr.org/2026/03/16/nx-s1-5749530/judge-blocks-rfk-jr-vaccine-changes">delayed by litigation</a> and instructs federal agencies to advance the new recommendations “to the fullest extent allowable by law.” It also directs the Justice Department to pursue what it calls “meritorious” legal challenges involving state vaccine requirements and exemptions, including those based on parental authority and religious and medical grounds. 
Medical organizations and some Republicans have criticized the order.
 “I’m a doctor. This executive order is wrong,” Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), chairman of the Senate Health Committee, wrote on <a href="https://x.com/SenBillCassidy/status/2086906268669624512">X</a>. “The President does not have the expertise to make these changes.”
“Vaccines are overwhelmingly safe. Vaccines are effective. Vaccines DO NOT cause autism,” Cassidy added, arguing that separating vaccines could require children to receive more shots to obtain the same protection.
The administration has portrayed the changes as part of a broader effort to give parents more control over medical decisions and to reconsider longstanding federal recommendations.

US-POLITICS-TRUMP

Trump Orders Major Overhaul Of Childhood Vaccine Recommendations

politics

vaccine policy

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. laid into CNN anchor Dana Bash during a Sunday morning interview, arguing that her network — and media across the board — had been complicit in efforts to silence anyone who raised questions about the COVID-19 pandemic orthodoxy.
Kennedy began by pointing out just how quickly Constitutional rights had been trampled as people who spoke out or refused the COVID-19 vaccines faced cancellation, getting fired from their jobs, or worse — and Bash immediately tried to move the conversation in a different direction.
WATCH:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
This was a long-overdue moment on CNN.
RFK Jr. called out the network on air for helping to silence dissent during COVID.
Dana Bash was getting visibly irritated, after she repeatedly tried to move the conversation away from censorship.
Then he aimed his fire at Dana Bash… <a href="https://t.co/yHmIxjgz25">pic.twitter.com/yHmIxjgz25</a>
— Overton (@overton_news) <a href="https://x.com/overton_news/status/2083918836999332300?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">August 2, 2026</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.x.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
&#8220;We need to protect our constitutional rights. That is the primary obligation in our country,” Kennedy began.
&#8220;What does that mean?&#8221; Bash asked.
&#8220;Well, during COVID, we completely dismantled our constitutional rights. We began censoring people in violation of the First Amendment,&#8221; he explained, but Bash interrupted.
&#8220;You’re saying what not to do, I’m asking what to do,&#8221; she protested.
Kennedy pushed back: &#8220;Well, that’s something to do. That is the number one priority: we protect the Constitution.&#8221;
&#8220;Forgive me, but you’re talking about rights and I’m asking about a potential public health crisis that is coming. But I do want to … let’s …&#8221; Bash tried to redirect him.
&#8220;And one of the mistakes we made last time was suppressing those rights. So people weren’t being heard. Doctors who were saying, ‘You’re doing it wrong,’ were being marginalized and vilified,&#8221; Kennedy made it clear that he was not going to be deterred.
Bash tried once more, saying, &#8220;Again, I really want to move on …”
&#8220;Yeah, of course you want to move on because you were part of the problem!&#8221; Kennedy shot back.
&#8220;No! I wasn’t part of the problem!&#8221; Bash objected.
&#8220;There was absolute press malpractice. Your job is to have a fierce skepticism toward authority, and you weren’t doing that,&#8221; Kennedy continued, arguing that many in media were to blame for doing the same. &#8220;You were beating up on people who were dissenting!&#8221;

HHS Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr Testifies At Senate Finance Hearing

RFK Jr. Unloads On CNN Anchor Over COVID: ‘You Were Part Of The Problem!’

RFK Jr. Unloads On CNN Anchor Over COVID: 'You Were Part Of The Problem!'

censorship

covid19

dana bash

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Thursday launched an online cooking series aimed at helping Americans prepare healthy, budget-friendly meals as part of the Trump administration&#8217;s &#8220;Make America Healthy Again&#8221; initiative.
The new series, &#8220;The Real Food Show,&#8221; features Kennedy traveling across the country to meet with chefs and culinary experts who demonstrate recipes using minimally processed ingredients.
“Inspired by President Trump&#8217;s Make America Healthy Again agenda, Secretary Kennedy is bringing the Dietary Guidelines for Americans to life and showing that cooking with real food can be practical, approachable, and affordable for every family,” the Department of Health and Human Services <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/real-food-show/index.html">said</a> in a statement.
“Every episode is packed with affordable, budget-friendly recipes and easy cooking techniques designed to save you time and money,” the department added.
In a promotional video announcing the series, Kennedy <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWBP4REwZeY">said</a> the goal is to encourage Americans to embrace healthier eating habits through simple home cooking. 
“Thanks to President Trump, we flipped the food pyramid and put real food back to where it belongs — at the center of the American plate,&#8221; Kennedy said. &#8220;America, it&#8217;s time to eat real food. Let’s get cooking.” 
The new series premiered Thursday on the HHS website and YouTube. Celebrity chef Andrew Gruel joined Kennedy for the first episode, where they prepared crispy wild Alaskan salmon cakes served with an apple, white bean and greens salad.
&#8220;I&#8217;m excited to be part of the premiere episode because I believe the message is much bigger than a cooking show,&#8221; Gruel <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/food-drink/rfk-jr-takes-maha-kitchen-hhs-cooking-series-promoting-healthy-meals-under-5">told</a> Fox News Digital.
&#8220;My hope is that this series helps demystify cooking and shows people that preparing crave-worthy, healthy meals doesn&#8217;t require professional training or expensive ingredients,&#8221; he added.

Screenshot 2026-07-31 at 5.01.07 PM

Move Over, Food Network: RFK Jr. Has A Cooking Show

health

make america healthy again

The Trump administration is withholding more than $1 billion in federal Medicaid payments to California and Minnesota while demanding the Democrat-led states prove questioned Medicaid claims were lawful and not the result of waste, fraud, or abuse. 
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced Tuesday that the Department of Health and Human Services and the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services are deferring about $867.5 million in payments to California and another $199 million to Minnesota after federal reviews flagged high-risk Medicaid claims requiring additional documentation.
&#8220;Medicaid exists to serve vulnerable Americans — not to bankroll unsupported claims,&#8221; Kennedy said in a <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hhs-defers-medicaid-payments-california-minnesota-fraud-review.html">statement</a>. &#8220;Under President Trump&#8217;s leadership, we are restoring accountability across our public programs and protecting taxpayer dollars.&#8221;
Kennedy stressed that the money has not been permanently withheld and said both states can recover the funds by documenting that the claims comply with federal Medicaid requirements. 
&#8220;If those states want that money, they need to provide documentation that these payments are legitimate,&#8221; Kennedy said during a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YezwEkqMDHo">press conference</a> announcing the action.
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz said the agency is abandoning what he described as a reactive approach that attempts to recover taxpayer money only after it has already been spent.
&#8220;CMS is done trying to chase down stolen and misused funds after they&#8217;ve already left the building,&#8221; Oz said. &#8220;By stopping waste and fraud before the check clears, CMS is delivering record-high savings for taxpayers and ensuring that their hard-earned dollars reach the vulnerable Americans Medicaid is meant to serve.&#8221;
According to CMS, California&#8217;s deferred payments stem primarily from questions surrounding certain in-home care programs after federal reviewers identified spending growth that significantly exceeded national trends. Oz said reviewers also identified claims involving individuals with what he described as &#8220;unsatisfactory immigration status,&#8221; as well as claims connected to services allegedly billed after beneficiaries had died.
Minnesota&#8217;s payment deferral follows a review of Medicaid claims across 14 high-risk service categories that federal officials said included providers previously flagged through program integrity investigations along with other claims presenting potential eligibility or billing concerns.
The Medicaid payment freeze is part of the Trump administration&#8217;s broader effort to combat fraud across federal healthcare programs. Kennedy also announced that HHS is expanding efforts to permanently exclude individuals and organizations found to have committed fraud from participating in Medicare and Medicaid.
Kennedy said CMS increasingly relied on artificial intelligence, advanced analytics, and other data tools to identify potentially fraudulent claims before federal matching funds are released. 
California Democratic Governor Gavin Newsom rejected the administration&#8217;s allegations, calling the announcement &#8220;the same recycled political stunt we&#8217;ve seen before.&#8221;
&#8220;California isn&#8217;t being targeted because Trump has evidence of fraud,&#8221; Newsom wrote on <a href="https://x.com/govpressoffice/status/2079606256101171441">X</a>. &#8220;We are being targeted for political reasons.&#8221;
Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz likewise dismissed the administration&#8217;s justification, arguing the move was designed to finance Republican tax policies. &#8220;This isn&#8217;t about fraud — it&#8217;s about cutting your healthcare so that Trump can afford the tax cuts he gave to billionaires,&#8221; Walz <a href="https://x.com/GovTimWalz/status/2079622267307258033">wrote</a>. &#8220;They&#8217;re cutting more money in healthcare than they&#8217;ve prosecuted for fraud.&#8221;

President Trump Participates In Swearing-In Ceremony For Medicare and Medicaid Services Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz

RFK Punishes Blue States For Rampant Fraud Concerns

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

The Trump administration is moving to more closely track and study microplastics and pharmaceuticals in Americans&#8217; drinking water, marking the first time federal regulators have formally flagged them as potential contaminants.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. stated that microplastics are a “growing threat to human health.”
The effort is split into two initiatives, first shared with The Daily Wire.
The Environmental Protection Agency will consider microplastics and pharmaceuticals a “priority contaminant group” in a current draft list. At the same time, a Health and Human Services-backed agency is launching the Systematic Targeting of Microplastics (STOMP) project to investigate the impact of microplastics and their effects on human health.
&#8220;For too long, Americans have vocalized concerns about plastics and pharmaceuticals in their drinking water. That ends today,” EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said on Thursday.
Microplastics have been detected in water, food, and household products, and some research has linked them to serious health issues like cancer, though scientists say more study is needed to understand their full impact, according to <a href="https://med.stanford.edu/news/insights/2025/01/microplastics-in-body-polluted-tiny-plastic-fragments.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Stanford University School of Medicine</a>.
“Americans deserve clear answers about how microplastics in their bodies affect their health,&#8221; Kennedy Jr. said. &#8220;Through [Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health’s] STOMP program, we will measure microplastic exposure, identify sources of risk, and develop targeted solutions to reduce it,” he said.
As for the administration’s initiatives, the goal of STOMP is to focus on the impact of microplastics in the body, specifically how to “measure,” “target,” and “remove” them. It will identify the most dangerous microplastics and how they affect the human body.
The EPA’s decision to include microplastics on its draft Contaminant Candidate List “does not constitute regulation, but signals that a substance warrants serious scientific attention and may be considered for future regulatory action,” the agency told The Daily Wire.
“By placing microplastics and pharmaceuticals on the Contaminant Candidate List for the first time ever, EPA is sending a clear message: we will follow the science, we will pursue answers, and we will hold ourselves to the highest standards to protect the health of every American family,” Zeldin explained.
Kimberly Wise White, Ph.D., who serves as vice of regulatory and scientific affairs at the American Chemistry Council, said the organization supports &#8220;science-driven monitoring of microplastics in drinking water and research to better understand potential impacts.&#8221;
&#8220;People want clear answers on microplastics, and any drinking water monitoring program must address <a href="https://2244cf6a.streak-link.com/C1L0mjfUFGcEd_K5ZA0yrYvB/http%3A%2F%2Flink.mediaoutreach.meltwater.com%2Fls%2Fclick%3Fupn%3Du001.Qyj58FigvMRC96dcC2S4KNjCL20O7sP-2B4Pjq84SIXsEHUfMcmsBXBIl8DmU73q7pkMjL_SRyOrIcdwJbpfaG7RzzySYK8nAywSKGplH3LOjf4JVtkcvJrNDWVwpIurOw1tOLOU8IlSbJpQxLsxantCzquhbBXxlYNYtGXx9jLylLa4TmmrSrNcYZTV90UX2gJpZg-2B4QM4t7n2iNMEZX9KlwWHDxFMZWa9Z-2B1QTMDYG1BZIxbO1fhmIIajpIJMYEwHwjfONpNpI5UYWWaWr7r4pTlNsGKK5JzokpzVUBV7Tc9yyS3DTLgaZ6jr1OAJHqvS-2BUbTte2eSvXf7TpqKOLO2sUxfA6OIDxLnZ-2Ffyb7Fx7317OgFVi9xe0q7QKqDCCXxO6-2BOooz-2FuVNZEmrSOMQLUAwfFs1nc-2BLnUZ8Q6xJEw5Z6Aaj-2F8qXwwUkME-2BBSxTH1AOYHKzsLwq00fT2ILtrVxZ2cMA-3D-3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">several existing hurdles</a>, including developing clear definitions, ensuring adequate lab capacity, and standardizing sampling and testing methods to be used consistently across the country,” she added.
Zeldin and Kennedy Jr. are expected to formally announce the effort in Washington, D.C. on Thursday afternoon.

Richmond Water Crisis

Trump Admin Announces Major Steps Countering Big Pharma And Microplastics

Lee Zeldin

WASHINGTON — The Department of Health and Human Services announced on Tuesday that it has frozen all child care payments to the state of Minnesota amid news of a massive fraud scandal in the state.
&#8220;We have frozen all child care payments to the state of Minnesota,&#8221; Deputy Secretary Jim O&#8217;Neill and Administration for Children &amp; Families Assistant Secretary Alex Adams announced in a video released on X Tuesday evening. &#8220;You have probably read the serious allegations that the state of Minnesota has funneled millions of taxpayer dollars to fraudulent daycares across Minnesota over the past decade.&#8221;
HHS has taken three actions &#8220;against the blatant fraud that appears to be rampant in Minnesota and across the country,&#8221; he explained. The first action: activating HHS&#8217; &#8220;Defend the Spend system,&#8221; requiring justification and a receipt or photo evidence before they send money to a state.
The second action hinges directly on journalist Nick Shirley&#8217;s investigative work over the past few months: O&#8217;Neill says that he and his colleagues have identified the individuals in Shirley&#8217;s video, and are demanding a &#8220;comprehensive audit of these centers,&#8221; including attendance records, licenses, complaints, investigations, inspections, and more.
HHS said its third action is launching a fraud reporting hotline and email address where parents, providers, and members of the public can submit tips.
&#8220;We have turned off the money spigot and we are finding the fraud,&#8221; the officials said.
<div id="attachment_1021659" style="width: 835px" class="wp-caption alignnone"><a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/trump-admin-freezes-all-child-care-payments-to-minnesota-amid-daycare-fraud-scandal/president-trump-holds-roundtable-discussion-at-the-white-house-on-antifa-4" rel="attachment wp-att-1021659"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" aria-describedby="caption-attachment-1021659" class="wp-image-1021659 size-large" src="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-2240003913-1-825x576.jpg" alt="" width="825" height="576" srcset="https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-2240003913-1-825x576.jpg 825w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-2240003913-1-300x209.jpg 300w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-2240003913-1-768x536.jpg 768w, https://dw-wp-production.imgix.net/2025/12/GettyImages-2240003913-1.jpg 1024w" sizes=" (max-width: 825px) 100vw, 825px" /></a>Independent journalist Nick Shirley speaks during a roundtable discussion in the State Dining Room of the White House on October 08, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)</div>
Shirley&#8217;s viral videos show a number of examples of concerning activity in the Minneapolis, Minnesota, region. His work comes after a federal prosecutor said that there has been at least $9 billion in fraud in the state under Minnesota Democratic Governor Tim Walz&#8217;s watch.
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The Daily Wire <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/minnesota-is-currently-paying-an-indicted-somali-fraudster-to-run-assisted-living-homes">reported earlier this month</a> that the Minnesota government was still paying an accused Somali fraudster to run assisted living homes as that man awaited trial for his alleged role in the nation&#8217;s largest COVID scam, in which he ran a fraudulent charity.
According to First Assistant U.S. Attorney Joe Thompson, <a href="https://www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/news/billions-paid-out-by-medicaid-in-minnesota-may-be-fraudulent-us-attorney/">14 Medicaid services in Minnesota are</a> at &#8220;high risk&#8221; for fraud.
Shirley, who appeared on Fox News over the weekend, discussed how he found suspicious daycare and learning centers in Minneapolis with no children present that are potentially fronts for scams.
<div>
“It’s so obvious,” Shirley <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/independent-journalist-who-uncovered-minnesota-fraud-says-a-kindergartner-could-figure-it-out">explained</a>, referring to the apparent fraud. “If you’re living in Minnesota, you have to raise your eyebrows and think, ‘What’s going on?’ Literally, if you drive around Minneapolis, you’ll see daycare centers, autism centers — you will then see transportation companies that have snow piled up as if they haven’t moved it in months.&#8221;
“A kindergartner could’ve figured out there was fraud going on.&#8221;
Walz addressed the viral reports on Tuesday, acknowledging that the state has been &#8220;taken advantage of&#8221; by fraudsters who prioritized &#8220;greed&#8221; over the needs of children and the elderly. But Walz blamed the issue on President Donald Trump.
</div>
<div class="css-175oi2r">
<div class="css-175oi2r r-1s2bzr4">
<div id="id__fz40m043zb" class="css-146c3p1 r-bcqeeo r-1ttztb7 r-qvutc0 r-37j5jr r-1inkyih r-16dba41 r-bnwqim r-135wba7" dir="auto" lang="en" data-testid="tweetText">&#8220;We’ve spent years cracking down on fraud &#8211; referring cases to law enforcement, shutting down and auditing high-risk programs,&#8221; he said in a social media post. &#8220;Trump keeps letting fraudsters out of prison. To the national news just now paying attention, here’s what we’ve done to stop it.&#8221;</div>
</div>
</div>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
We’ve spent years cracking down on fraud &#8211; referring cases to law enforcement, shutting down and auditing high-risk programs.
Trump keeps letting fraudsters out of prison.
To the national news just now paying attention, here’s what we’ve done to stop it. <a href="https://t.co/bgvKPxVxxm">pic.twitter.com/bgvKPxVxxm</a>
— Tim Walz (@Tim_Walz) <a href="https://twitter.com/Tim_Walz/status/2006109443893674228?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 30, 2025</a></blockquote>
<script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

Minnesota Public Schools Begin Year Days After Mass Shooting

Trump Admin Freezes ‘All Child Care Payments’ To Minnesota Amid Daycare Fraud Scandal

Executive

fraud

minneapolis

minnesota

U.S.

Rural health care is getting a big boost thanks to the Trump administration.
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services announced on Monday that all 50 states will receive funding through the Rural Health Transformation Program, a $50 billion investment established through President Trump&#8217;s Working Families Tax Cuts legislation.
This $50 billion initiative is meant to strengthen and modernize health care in rural communities across the country. The funds will be allocated over five years, with $10 billion available each year from 2026 through 2030. For the first year, the money for each state ranges from $147 million to $281 million.
“Today marks an extraordinary milestone for rural health in America,” said CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz. “Thanks to Congress establishing this investment and President Trump for his leadership, states are stepping forward with bold, creative plans to expand rural access, strengthen their workforces, modernize care, and support the communities that keep our nation running.&#8221;
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Thanks to the Rural Health Transformation Fund, created by congressional Republicans and signed into law by President Trump, we are investing $50 BILLION in rural healthcare across America! <a href="https://t.co/4pA6EsLc0f">pic.twitter.com/4pA6EsLc0f</a>
— House Republicans (@HouseGOP) <a href="https://twitter.com/HouseGOP/status/2005698509245198634?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">December 29, 2025</a></blockquote>
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said that because of the investment, rural Americans will have affordable health care close to home, free from bureaucratic obstacles.
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“More than 60 million Americans living in rural areas have the right to equal access to quality care,” Kennedy said. “This historic investment puts local hospitals, clinics, and health workers in control of their communities’ health care.&#8221;
The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services stated in a press release Monday that states are improving healthcare access in rural areas by planning efforts that will:
<ul>
<li>Bring More Care Within Reach</li>
<li>Strengthen and Sustain the Rural Clinical Workforce</li>
<li>Modernize Rural Health Infrastructure and Technology</li>
<li>Driving Structural Efficiency &amp; Empowering the Community Providers</li>
<li>Advance Innovative Care Models and Payment Reform</li>
</ul>
Oz told reporters Monday the $50 billion investment isn&#8217;t intended to pay off the bills: “The purpose of this $50 billion investment is to allow us to rightsize the system and to deal with the fundamental hindrances of improvement in rural health care.”
As part of the program, states are required to submit regular updates to the Centers for Medicare &amp; Medicaid Services. Oz said he wants states to get creative with the funds to change the way health care has been administered in rural America.
&#8220;By doing this the right way and by allowing more practitioners to move to these areas and training nurses and doctors in these rural areas, we think they will stay put and provide high-quality care,&#8221; Oz said.

Illustration by Daily Wire staff

Trump Admin Invests $50 Billion Into Rural Health Care

Dr. Oz

health care

mehmet oz

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is eyeing another key health panel to reform, apparently due to members&#8217; past &#8220;woke&#8221; comments and recommendations.
The panel in question is called the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, which has 16 members. The task force helps determine which cancer screenings and other preventative measures should be covered by insurance.
Sources <a href="https://www.wsj.com/health/healthcare/rfk-health-screening-panel-members-c308cbb0?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAj7wH3sv3WoEdu4VAgkX6dfrc6WdD03ZsDFxQbqvweBFhTgu_F4bYLFku3VqJA%3D&amp;gaa_ts=6887e303&amp;gaa_sig=oN9e3u89wwsyjVVX6d5R9XbyL7iYRTsaUIR4FqoqZCoezMLzPT0cDFBgyVzWY0YgrMPHCREJbHmJtRje3S_OQw%3D%3D">told</a> The Wall Street Journal that Kennedy is looking to oust all 16 members and replace them with his own appointments, as he did with a recent vaccine panel. RFK Jr. is reportedly motivated by past &#8220;woke&#8221; comments from the task force members.
The Journal highlighted recent commentary from The American Conservative, which detailed the panel&#8217;s “left-wing ideological orthodoxy.&#8221;
For example, the task force highlighted &#8220;racial discrimination&#8221; when discussing risk factors for anxiety in some children and teenagers. They also referred to pregnant women as “pregnant persons.&#8221; And in a publication on breastfeeding, the panel spoke about the “lasting psychological impact and stigma&#8221; of &#8220;enslaved Black women being forced to act as wet nurses.&#8221;
HHS said in a statement that Kennedy &#8220;looks forward to working with the USPSTF to improve public health.&#8221;
The apparent upcoming move follows RFK Jr. firing all 17 panelists on a highly influential vaccine panel called the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, known as ACIP. His explanation of the removals was to restore public trust, citing conflicts of interest.
Kennedy said ACIP had “never recommended against a vaccine—even those which were later withdrawn for safety reasons,&#8221; adding that the panel “failed to scrutinize vaccine products given to babies and pregnant women.”
ACIP held its first vote with 8 new members appointed by Kennedy last month, and they voted to recommend a shot that protects infants against RSV, a respiratory virus that can be deadly for babies. The panel has also recommended flu shots without a mercury-based preservative called thimerosal. Kennedy has already moved to cement the recommendation. 
ACIP is expected to tackle the childhood vaccination schedule, which is riling up critics.
The Daily Wire has reached out to HHS for further comment on the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rfk-jr-targets-ultra-processed-foods-in-latest-move-to-maha?author=Amanda+Prestigiacomo&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=0&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=RFK+Jr.+Targets+Ultra-Processed+Foods+In+Latest+Move+To+MAHA">RFK Jr. Targets Ultra-Processed Foods In Latest Move To MAHA</a>

RFK Jr

RFK Jr. To Oust Key Health Panel Over ‘Woke’ Nonsense

trump administration

Vaccines

Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rfk-jr-nixes-u-s-funding-for-vaccine-alliance-until-it-re-earns-the-publics-trust?author=Virginia+Kruta&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=RFK+Jr.+Nixes+U.S.+Funding+For+Vaccine+Alliance+Until+It+‘Re-Earns+The+Public’s+Trust’">Robert F. Kennedy Jr.</a> is demanding reform to the organ transplant system after a shocking investigation found organs were nearly harvested from dozens of patients who showed signs of life. 
An <a href="https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/hrsa-to-reform-organ-transplant-system.html">investigation</a> conducted by HHS’s Health Resources and Services Administration reviewed 351 cases out of Kentucky where organ donation was approved, but not completed. More than 100 of those cases – about 30% – showed what HHS called “concerning features,” including 73 patients who showed neurological signs “incompatible with organ donation.” At least 28 patients may not have been dead at the time the organ procurement was started.
 Some of these patients died within hours, but others lived for multiple days, and some became well enough to actually leave the hospital. 
Outside of the HHS investigation, a recent report from The New York Times <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/20/us/organ-transplants-donors-alive.html">highlighted</a> a number of disturbing cases where the push for organs threatened potential donors. In one case, a 42-year-old Alabama woman had her chest cut into and her breastbone sawed before the doctors realized her heart was still beating and she was breathing. 
“Our findings show that hospitals allowed the organ procurement process to begin when patients showed signs of life, and this is horrifying,” Kennedy said in a statement, and his department said it found a “systemic disregard for the sanctity of life.” 
The secretary singled out organ procurement organizations (OPOs), nonprofits that coordinate access to these transplants, and said they will be &#8220;held accountable.&#8221;
&#8220;The entire system must be fixed to ensure that every potential donor’s life is treated with the sanctity it deserves,&#8221; RFK added. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Our findings show that hospitals allowed the organ procurement process to begin when patients showed signs of life, and this is horrifying. The organ procurement organizations that coordinate access to transplants will be held accountable. The entire system must be fixed to… <a href="https://t.co/DeiFa2FlEJ">https://t.co/DeiFa2FlEJ</a>
— Secretary Kennedy (@SecKennedy) <a href="https://twitter.com/SecKennedy/status/1947723786641346605?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 22, 2025</a></blockquote>
The federal inquiry into the organ transplant system was sparked by a Kentucky man who overdosed in 2021. The OPO involved, which is now called Network for Hope after a merger, was at the center of the investigation. 
The Times, which had access to HHS&#8217;s findings, said hospital staffers were uncomfortable moving forward with the organ procurement, fearing they were committing euthanasia. However, an OPO coordinator assured the staffers that everything was fine. Eventually, a doctor said he wouldn&#8217;t move forward, and the Kentucky man “cried, pulled his knees to his chest and shook his head.” 
The patient became well enough to leave the hospital and is still alive today. 
Two former employees of the OPO told the Times the organ harvesting would have “1000% moved forward” if not for the doctor putting a stop to the OPO. Three other former employees said they witnessed similar cases. 
Barry Massa, the CEO of Network of Hope, testified before Congress on Wednesday and stated that the nonprofit is conducting its own internal investigations and has implemented new standards to protect organ donors. 
“We have devised a checklist for every nurse that is on a DCD (donation after circulatory death) case,&#8221; Massa said. &#8220;We did the same thing with every attending physician.&#8221;
&#8220;We’ve implemented &#8216;hard stops,&#8217; so that during any part of the process, we have huddles with everyone involved in the care and the treatment of that DCD donor so that if any concerns are raised, they can raise those concerns at that time, or any time in the process,&#8221; he added. 
HHS has outlined several procedures for OPOs to follow and requires them to adopt a formal method that allows any staff member to halt a donation process if patient safety concerns arise.
Kennedy has also threatened to decertify OPOs if they fail to comply with corrective actions outlined by HHS. 
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/episode/mws-ep-1628">WALSH: The Dark Truth About Becoming An Organ Donor</a>

Doctor and nurse in the operating room with patient on the operating table in hospital

Shocking Federal Report Reveals Organ Donors Showed Signs Of Life When Harvesting Started

Shocking HHS Report Says Organ Donors Still Alive When Organ Harvesting Started  

organ donation

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Wednesday that the United States would not donate to Gavi, a global vaccine alliance, unless and until the organization took steps to &#8220;re-earn the public&#8217;s trust.&#8221;
Kennedy&#8217;s criticism of the <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/25/rfk-vaccine-donations-gavi-00422705" target="_blank" rel="noopener">global body</a> was rooted primarily in its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, and he made that abundantly clear in a video he sent to the Gavi pledging summit – in which he accused the organization of silencing dissent over the highly controversial COVID vaccines and pushing them despite concerns about their safety, per <a href="https://www.politico.com/news/2025/06/25/rfk-vaccine-donations-gavi-00422705">POLITICO</a>.
&#8220;When the science was inconvenient, Gavi ignored the science,&#8221; Kennedy said, arguing that if the United States was going to continue funding the organization, they would have to do better in the future. He also accused Gavi of coordinating with the World Health Organization (WHO) to &#8220;recommend best practices for social media companies to silence dissenting views, to stifle free speech and legitimate questions during that period.&#8221;
&#8220;I call on Gavi today to re-earn the public trust and to justify the $8 billion that America has provided in funding since 2001. And I’ll tell you how to start taking vaccine safety seriously: Consider the best science available, even when the science contradicts established paradigms,&#8221; Kennedy declared. &#8220;Until that happens, the United States won’t contribute more to Gavi.&#8221;
The pledging summit, which is being held in Brussels, hopes to raise $9 billion in funding for the next five years — 2026-2030, but the approximately $300 million the United States provides on an annual basis is what is in question.
&#8220;When vaccine safety issues have come before Gavi, Gavi has treated them not as a patient health problem, but as a public relations problem,&#8221; Kennedy said in his video presentation. &#8220;Business as usual is over, unaccountable and opaque policymaking is over. I invite all of you to join us in a new era of evidence-based medicine, old-standard science and integrity.&#8221;
Kennedy&#8217;s announcement follows earlier reports that suggested President Donald Trump&#8217;s administration planned to <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/health/usaid-cuts-gavi-bird-flu.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cut funding</a> to Gavi — although they planned to continue funding key grants for things like natural disaster response, HIV, and tuberculosis medications.

RFK Jr. Nixes U.S. Funding For Vaccine Alliance Until It ‘Re-Earns The Public’s Trust’

RFK Jr. Nixes U.S. Funding For Vaccine Alliance Until It 'Re-Earns The Public's Trust'

World Health Organization

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