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GOP senators rally around effort to end ‘radical wokeness’ in HHS task force
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EXCLUSIVE: Three Senate Republicans are backing up Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s possible effort to reform the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, saying that the group has recently been ideologically motivated.
The «independent» task force is used to determine recommendations of what services health insurance companies in the United States have to cover for free, such as checking for cancer.
«Americans deserve to know health guidelines are based on real science, not radical wokeness. The Task Force needs to get back to its mission of giving clear, evidence-based recommendations people can trust,» Sen. Jim Banks, R-Indiana, said in a statement.
I’M A PHYSICIAN AND I’M WORRIED THAT OUR HEALTH AGENCIES ARE FACING INCREASING CHAOS
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. speaks during a news conference on the autism report by the CDC at the Hubert Humphrey Building Auditorium in Washington, Wednesday, April 16, 2025. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
The Wall Street Journal reported that Kennedy is considering removing members of the board, and the senators are saying they back any change to veer away from certain DEI tactics employed by the group currently, including the 2023 Report to Congress on High-Priority Evidence Gaps for Clinical Preventive Services and «social justice activism» by people in the group.
«In particular, the USPSTF departed from its proper activities in its December 2023 Health Equity Framework. The framework criticizes ‘equal access to quality health care for all’ as an inadequate goal of public health and announces that the Task Force will instead use equity as ‘a criterion of the ‘public health importance’ of a topic’ for consideration,» the letter added.
«Far from simply recognizing health disparities between certain populations, ‘health equity’ as described by the USPSTF includes ‘information on risk factors that intersect with race and/or ethnicity or other disadvantaged populations (e.g., sexual and gender minorities) and that affect prevalence and burden of disease’ and ‘any inequities in how preventive services are provided, accessed, or received.’ These criteria would allow the Task Force to issue recommendations outside its proper purview and impose leftwing ideology,» it continues.
SEN. RAND PAUL: KENNEDY IS CONFRONTING ‘CORRUPT’ HEALTH AGENCIES TO MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AGAIN
Senator-elect Jim Banks, Republican of Indiana, looks on during a photo opportunity as Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Republican of Kentucky, welcomes newly-elected Republican senators in his office at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on November 12, 2024. (ALLISON ROBBERT/AFP via Getty Images)
Specifically, they said that changes could be needed to fulfill President Donald Trump’s Executive Order to scrap DEI efforts within the federal government, along with an EO on «restoring merit-based opportunity» and «ending illegal discrimination.»
«Allowing the Task Force to pursue the Health Equity Framework means allowing it to exceed its statutory mission and target social groups that comport with a progressive agenda. It means discounting universally beneficial recommendations as inadequate. It means disregarding statutory limits and instead undertaking a social justice crusade through the lens of critical race theory and gender ideology. This would be a mistake. The result is ineffectiveness, discrimination, and division. The USPSTF should be working for all Americans equally,» the letter added.
«No final decision has been made on how the USPSTF can better support HHS’ mandate to Make America Healthy Again,» an HHS spokesperson told Fox News Digital in a statement when asked about the WSJ report.
WATCH: RFK JR. REBUKES DEM SENATOR FOR PLAYING POLITICS WITH CANCER-STRICKEN CONSTITUENT: ‘YOU DON’T CARE’
Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) arrives for a Senate Judiciary committee business meeting at the Dirksen Senate Office Building on February 13, 2025, in Washington, D.C.. (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
There has already been some opposition to the possibility of removing the members, including from the American Medical Association.
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«USPSTF plays a critical, non-partisan role in guiding physicians’ efforts to prevent disease and improve the health of patients by helping to ensure access to evidence-based clinical preventive services,» the AMA wrote in a letter to Kennedy. «As such, we urge you to retain the previously appointed members of the USPSTF and commit to the long-standing process of regular meetings to ensure their important work can continue without interruption.»
health,robert f kennedy jr,senate
La orden del ministro de Defensa
Un tanque del ejército de Israel, cerca de la frontera con Gaza, este miércoles. Foto: REUTERS Benjamin Netanyahu reúne a su gabinete de seguridad
Más muertos en un centro de distribución de comida
Camiones con ayuda humanitaria esperan para entrar a la Franja de Gaza por el cruce de Rafah, en la frontera con Egipto. Foto: AP INTERNACIONAL
‘Should have been prepared’: GOP senators fight for unified message on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’
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Now that the Senate has fled Washington until after Labor Day, Republicans finally have a chance to sell President Donald Trump’s «big, beautiful bill» to their constituents, but some fear that Democrats already have an advantage in the messaging war.
Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., said that Republicans could «absolutely» do better in selling the colossal bill to combat Democrats’ «lies.»
«Well, we should have been prepared right off the bat and talked about, ‘No, we’re not talking about reforming Medicaid designed for [women, children and the elderly]. We’re looking at how we can save and preserve it and repair the damage done by the Obamacare addition to it,’» he told Fox News Digital. «We should have been talking about that, but we didn’t.»
SENATE GOP READY TO GO NUCLEAR AFTER SCHUMER’S ‘POLITICAL EXTORTION’ OF NOMINEES
President Donald Trump in the East Room of the White House on July 30, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)
Since Trump signed the bill into law, and throughout the entire process to get it to his desk, Democrats have largely been unified in their attacks against the bill, rebranding it as Republicans’ «big, ugly betrayal,» and targeting cuts to Medicaid, food assistance and a litany of other policies.
«It’s a very unpopular bill, so if I were them, I would probably go out and start trying to spin,» Sen. Chris Murphy, D-Conn., told Fox News Digital.
Messaging against the bill has become routine in Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s floor speeches, where he often targets the cuts to Medicaid touted by the GOP as reforms to a broken system.
«The more Americans learn about the Republicans’ bill, the more they are realizing that Donald Trump and Republicans sold them a raw deal,» the New York Democrat said in a floor speech last week. «The Republicans’ ‘big, ugly betrayal’ is one of the most devastating bills for Americans’ healthcare that we’ve ever seen.»
TRUMP TELLS SCHUMER TO ‘GO TO HELL’ OVER SENATE NOMINEE DEAL FUNDING DEMANDS AFTER NEGOTIATIONS COLLAPSE
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., turns to an aide during a news conference where he commented on Elon Musk’s criticism of President Donald Trump’s spending and tax bill, at the Capitol in Washington on June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Polling of the bill’s favorability among Americans is also working against Republicans. A Fox News poll conducted in June after the House GOP passed the legislation found that 59% of respondents opposed the bill.
Sen. Roger Marshall, R-Kan., charged that «90% of the media is lying» about the bill, and countered that Republicans were actually increasing Medicaid spending faster than the rate of inflation «to the tune of $200 billion a year when it’s all said.»
«This is not the first message like this that we’ve struggled to get the truth through,» he told Fox News Digital.
«Republicans need to lean into it,» he continued. «We worked really hard, and we’re going to save and preserve Medicaid for those who need it the most. And we need to be sharing that.»
TAX CUTS, WORK REQUIREMENTS AND ASYLUM FEES: HERE’S WHAT’S INSIDE THE SENATE’S VERSION OF TRUMP’S BILL
Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) arrives for a Senate Republican Caucus luncheon at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on April 2, 2025. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., contended that Republicans shouldn’t be shy about the work they put into the bill.
Hawley, shortly after the bill passed early last month, held an event in his home state pushing the bill. He, alongside former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., lauded the bill’s inclusion of his Radiation Exposure Compensation Act, which renewed and expanded compensation funding for people exposed to nuclear waste.
When asked if Republicans had gotten off to a slow start on selling the bill, he said that too much time had been devoted to talking «about Medicaid, for my own taste.»
«It’s less of that,» he said. «Talk about the tax cuts in this bill for working people, you know. I mean, that’s what people want. I mean, I was asked when I went home. I was asked immediately by people, ‘When are those no taxes on tips? When does that start?’ So, I mean, people are tracking it, but they’re tracking what’s for them.»
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And Sen. Tommy Tubberville, R-Ala., charged that Democrats had «zero credibility» when it came to bashing the GOP for cuts and reforms.
«We got a lot of time,» he told Fox News Digital. «There will be a lot of water underneath the bridge. You won’t hear about the ‘big, beautiful bill’ here in another year because there’s going to be a couple more big, beautiful bills.»
politics,senate,donald trump
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NATO member scrambles jets after Russian drone attack near border, as Witkoff meets with Putin
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Romania was forced to scramble F-16 jets after Russia carried out a strike just half a mile from the NATO nation’s territory.
The country’s Ministry of National Defense (MApN) confirmed in a post on X that Russia carried out a drone attack near its border.
«On the night of August 5-6, the Russian forces launched a massive drone attack on the civilian infrastructure in the Ismail area, Ukraine, in the vicinity of the border with Romania,» Romania’s defense ministry wrote in a post on X.
«The radar systems of the MApN detected air targets in Ukrainian space, close to Tulcea County. At 1:10a.m., the population in the north of the county was warned via RO-Alert,» the ministry added. RO-Alert is Romania’s official emergency warning system.
Flames and plumes of smoke in Ukraine seen from Romania as Russia continues the war. (East2West news)
NATO JETS SCRAMBLED AMID RUSSIA’S LARGEST DRONE ATTACK ON UKRAINE
The defense ministry stated that two F-16 fighter jets took off «to monitor the national airspace,» but no «unauthorized intrusions» were detected. The ministry said it would carry out checks in the area and keep NATO allies updated in real time.
The drones reportedly struck oil and gas pipelines at the Orlivka plant in Odesa, Ukraine. Bright orange flames and plumes of smoke were visible across the Danube River.
Nearby Lithuania has also suffered from Russia’s war on Ukraine. Drones from Putin ally Belarus crossed into its territory, according to Lithuanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Kęstutis Budrys, who said he spoke with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte.
«These repeated incidents represent an alarming sign of the spillover of Russia’s aggression against [Ukraine] onto [NATO territory],» Budrys said of the incident. «We cannot compromise the security of our country and citizens, nor the integrity of NATO airspace. We must remain vigilant, as the threat is real and growing.»
Russian President Vladimir Putin welcomes U.S. President Donald Trump’s envoy Steve Witkoff during a meeting in Moscow, Russia Aug. 6, 2025. (Sputnik/Gavriil Grigorov/Pool via Reuters)
RUSSIA LAUNCHED ITS LARGEST AERIAL ATTACK OF THE WAR, UKRAINE SAYS
This attack could signal that Russian President Vladimir Putin is not moving closer to reaching a ceasefire deal, despite President Donald Trump’s Friday deadline. It’s unclear whether Special Envoy Steve Witkoff’s visit will push the Russian leader to move toward peace. However, if Moscow fails to make a deal by Friday, the U.S. will impose sanctions on Russia and potentially secondary tariffs.
Trump is reportedly putting pressure on Witkoff’s visit. One person close to the administration told the Financial Times that «if Witkoff comes back empty-handed, with absolutely nothing, Trump is going to go ballistic.»
President Donald Trump meets with NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte at the NATO summit in The Hague, Netherlands, June 25, 2025. (REUTERS/Brian Snyder)
Witkoff reportedly spent about three hours at the Kremlin and, according to Russian investment envoy Kirill Dmitriev, the «dialogue will prevail,» Reuters reported.
TRUMP CONFIRMS NUCLEAR SUBMARINES «IN THE REGION» AHEAD OF WITKOFF’S RUSSIA VISIT
Before setting the deadline, Trump reportedly spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy about securing a deal that would end the brutal war more than three years after Russia’s invasion. Zelenskyy later confirmed the conversation took place, saying that the «key focus» was ending the war.
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«Today, we coordinated our positions – Ukraine and the United States. We exchanged assessments of the situation: The Russians have intensified the brutality of their attacks. President Trump is fully informed about Russian strikes on Kyiv and other cities and communities,» Zelenskyy wrote on X.
East2West News contributed to this report.
russia,nato,ukraine,europe
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