Federal news
Bipartisan-proposed health care legislation by Chair of the Senate’s Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, Lamar Alexander (R-TN), and ranking member Patty Murray (D-WA) focuses on five issues ranging from medical costs to improving public health and health information technology. From Roll Call: http://www.rollcall.com/news/congress/alexander-murray-outline-plan-lower-health-costs Draft legislation: https://www.help.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/LHCC%20Act%20Discussion%20Draft%205_23_2019.pdf
In the House, Democrats have removed language that bans human embryo editing in a draft spending bill. Republicans are projected to seek reinstatement of this clause. From Science: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/house-spending-panel-drops-us-ban-gene-edited-babies
The EPA will terminate funding to 13 research centers that look at environmental disease prevention for children’s health. Funding will end with the close of the current fiscal year. The Department of Health and Human Services’ National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), which co-funds these research centers with the EPA, plans to continue funding the centers into 2020. From Science, reporting from E&E News: https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/05/epa-plan-end-funding-children-s-health-research-leaves-scientists-scrambling