››› Fauci Faces a Phalanx of Fools

On Wednesday, the Senate Homeland Security Committee questioned Dr. Anthony Fauci onc…

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They dig into who’s really absorbing the cost: safety-net and rural hospitals, many already teetering on closure, are seeing deficits balloon as uninsured patients still show up needing (and legally guaranteed) care. Dr. Stevens shares an on-the-ground look at Minnesota’s own near-miss with a major safety-net hospital closure, and explains why labor and delivery units, which are often the first services cut, are driving a growing maternal care crisis in rural communities.

The conversation also turns to politics: Donald Trump’s approval ratings has fallen into the low 30s in some recent polls. Miles and Dr. Stevens explore whether healthcare pain is starting to catch up with public opinion and what it might mean heading into the midterms.

Plus, a bombshell Wall Street Journal report suggests that Trump, NOT just RFK Jr, may be driving the administration’s escalating attacks on vaccines.

We also unpack two grim public health milestones: the worst U.S. measles outbreak in 35 years and a record-breaking cyclospora outbreak tied to contaminated lettuce. With the continued gutting of our health agencies, it’s only going to get worse.

In the second half, they’re joined by Dr Demetre Daskalakis, former Director of the CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, for a candid conversation on Fauci’s legacy, the CDC’s ongoing leadership vacuum, and what it will really take to rebuild and reimagine American public health after this administration.

LINKS

• The Washington Post: Rand Paul threatens to hold Fauci in contempt after he declines to answer questions

• POLITICO: Paul says Fauci will face ‘repercussions’ for taking the Fifth. That could get complicated.

• C-SPAN: Dr. Anthony Fauci Testifies on the COVID-19 Pandemic

• Tweet from RFK Jr. revealing himself as the source of Fauci’s diaries and other correspondence is HERE

• The Hill: Paul says Senate panel to vote on holding Fauci in contempt

• The Wall Street Journal: Trump Turns Up the Heat on RFK Jr. to Cut Back Childhood Vaccines

• Bloomberg: From TV Doctor to Power Broker: Dr. Oz Thrives on Trump’s Team

• The New York Times: Trump Will End Subsidies for Medicare Drug Premiums

• The Hill: Trump administration ending Medicare premium subsidy program

• KFF: Medicare Part D Enrollment, Premiums, and Cost Sharing in 2026

• The Washington Post: The EPA halted a study on gas stoves and asthma. But even partial results were striking.

• The Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology: Asthma Control Before and After Changing Gas Stoves to Electric Stoves

• MedPage Today: U.S. Measles Case Count Breaks Record

• The New York Times: Cyclosporiasis Cases in the United States Hit Record High

• CDC: Surveillance of Cyclosporiasis

• The Hill: Another cyclospora outbreak not linked to lettuce under investigation: FDA

• FDA: Investigation of 9-State Outbreak of Cyclospora Illnesses: Iceberg Lettuce (July 2026)

• NBC News: RFK Jr. says cyclosporiasis outbreak is ‘under control’ as Mexico casts doubt on link to Taylor Farms facility

• Dr. Daskalakis on X: https://x.com/dr_demetre

• Dr. Daskalakis on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drdemetre/

• Dr. Daskalakis on BlueSky: https://bsky.app/profile/drdemetre.bsky.social

• Dr. Daskalakis on LinkedIn: http://linkedin.com/in/demetre-c-daskalakis-2060aa11b

Join the fight at committeetoprotect.org.

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Reproductive Rights/Attacks on Medication Abortion

Some very welcome news, via the Center for Reproductive Rights:

A feder…

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We cover what’s missing from the proposal, what’s at risk, and why handing people money for “choice” isn’t the same as making healthcare affordable or effective. We make the case that healthcare policy should be judged by outcomes like healthier patients and stronger hospitals and NOT campaign slogans.

Tune in, subscribe, and hold your elected officials accountable this election season.

We also dig into a Texas appeals court’s reversal of charges against midwife Maria Rojas, whose case (built largely on hearsay) upended abortion access for an already underserved community, and a Virginia federal court ruling that found the FDA’s restrictions on mifepristone “arbitrary and capricious.”

Then, Kimya Forouzan, principal state policy advisor at the Guttmacher Institute, joins to unpack new data on how post-Dobbs abortion bans are reshaping care. From the surge in telehealth medication abortion, to the ripple effects of state bans on neighboring states, to the confusion and fear that keep people from even searching for information online, the landscape around abortion care is changing rapidly.

LINKS

• Center for Reproductive Rights press release: Federal Court Rules FDA Abortion Pill Restrictions Are Unjustified

• Plan C website

• Sen. Josh Hawley’s press release: Hawley Refers Dark Money Abortion Pill Operation to DOJ for Criminal Investigation

• Center for Reproductive Rights press release: No Proof that Texas Midwife Violated Abortion Ban, Court Rules

• Fifteenth Court of Appeals ruling

• Guttmacher Institute: Guttmacher Releases New Data on Travel for Abortion Care in 2025

• The Guttmacher Institute’s website

• Kimya Forouzan’s bio page

FOLLOW THE DOCS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

• Dr Kristin Lyerly (@drkristinlyerly)

• Dr Erin Stevens (@erinstevensmdobgyn)

• Dr Chris Ford (@doc_4ord)

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Generic drugs run on razor-thin margins that make U.S. manufacturing nearly impossible, and the staggering reality that six in ten Americans already worry about affording their prescriptions, with one in five rationing their medication. The conversation turns to India’s outsized role supplying roughly half of U.S. generic prescriptions by volume, and what could happen if manufacturers start looking to diversify away from the American market well before any tariffs even take effect.

Dr. Lyerly makes the case that if the administration were serious about reshoring production, it would be working with Congress on bills like the PILLS Act, MEDS Act, and MAPS Act, which offer incentives rather than blunt-force tariffs. They also note that this policy arrives as a “Plan B” after an earlier version was ruled illegal, raising the likelihood of legal challenges and a long stretch of uncertainty — not exactly the environment that encourages companies to invest in new manufacturing plants.

››› The Cyclospora outbreak continues to explode

What started as a regional outbreak focused primarily on Michigan has no…

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Next, Kansas Senator Roger Marshall, an OB-GYN, invoked “the doctor in me” to defend continued involvement in Iran, days after American service members were killed. Miles and Rob point out that Kansas has more rural hospitals at risk of closure than any other state, and Marshall voted for Medicaid cuts that make that worse.

We also cover new reporting that RFK Jr. floated spending $5 billion (10% of the NIH’s budget) investigating a disproven vaccine-autism link, a plan reportedly shelved after internal pushback. Meanwhile, HHS has quietly canceled dozens of active health studies on telehealth, nutrition, antibiotic resistance, and long COVID, despite funding already committed and researchers hired.

Finally, they dig into Pete Hegseth’s new policy mandating annual testosterone testing for troops 30 and older. Miles and Rob explain why medical experts say testosterone treatment should be based on symptoms, not a number, and why mass screening carries real risks like infertility and heart problems. Just another story highlighting this administration’s fixation on masculinity and virility.

LINKS

• MDHHS Cyclosporiasis Outbreak webpage

• CDC Surveillance of Cyclosporiasis webpage (with interactive map)

• NBC News: RFK Jr. says cyclosporiasis outbreak is ‘under control’ as Mexico casts doubt on link to Taylor Farms facility

• The Washington Post: Mexico says no evidence yet it was source of outbreak, despite U.S. finding

• NC Health News: Parasitic infections likely linked to farming practices, not restaurants

• Local 3 News: “It’s cut business in half”: self-serve salad restaurant owners says possible closure amid Cyclospora outbreak

• The Hill: Ossoff slams RFK Jr. for terminating FoodNet, drawing link to cyclospora outbreak

• Aaran Rupar’s tweet with video of Sen. Marshall defending Trump’s war

• Reuters: Inside RFK Jr.’s push to dismantle decades of U.S. vaccine policy

• Roll Call: HHS research agency ends funding for dozens of health studies

• Hegseth’s X announcement

• FactCheck.org: RFK Jr.’s Flawed Claims About Sperm Count and Fertility

• The Hill: Hegseth’s testosterone mandate carries risks, raises questions

• Reuters: Doctors question evidence behind Pentagon plan for testosterone screening

• TIME: What Urologists Think of the Military’s New Testosterone Testing Policy

• American Urology Association’s “Evaluation and Management of Testosterone Deficiency” guidelines

• BBC: US military to start screening for testosterone deficiency, Hegseth says

• The Guardian: Pete Hegseth wants testosterone for his soldiers. Finally, some gender-affirming care

• Courthouse News Service: ‘Sounds like gender-affirming care’: Lawmakers react to Pentagon’s testosterone treatments for troops

Join the fight at committeetoprotect.org.

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Have thoughts, questions, or your own health care story? Email us at feedback@pagingamerica.org.

Reproductive Rights/Attacks on Medication Abortion

At his nomination hearing, Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, actin…

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From there, we turn to some genuinely good news: The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), along with the Society for Women’s Health Research and other partners, just announced a “women’s health moonshot.” It’s a push for Congress to invest $20 billion over the next decade to close the massive research gap in women’s and obstetric health. The doctors explain all the different ways this could be a HUGE development.

The conversation takes a harder turn when they discuss anti-abortion groups manipulating real patients’ stories for propaganda. They dig into the case of a Wisconsin woman whose fatal fetal diagnosis was twisted into an anti-abortion narrative online, and the legal effort now underway to hold groups accountable for it.

And will abortion drive voters again in the 2026 midterms? Or will it be absorbed into a broader affordability conversation that’s defining this year’s midterms?

LINKS

• ACOG: Leading Women’s Health Organizations Launch National Strategy to Close the Women’s Health Gap

• HuffPost: Trump’s AG Nominee Commits To Ending Abortion Pills By Mail

• Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Legal group warns abortion opponents to stop ‘twisting’ Wisconsin mom’s story

• Up North News: AI chatbots are spreading abortion misinformation to Wisconsinites—and lawmakers are fighting back

• USA Today: Terrifying chatbot is here to talk women out of abortions

• Campaign for Accountability: AI Chatbots Point Women to Unproven and Unethical “Abortion Pill Reversal,” Report Shows

• Amnesty International: AI & Abortion Care: How people are using AI to find abortion care, and how this might be dangerous

• NOTUS: Democratic Voters Are Not Thinking About Abortion

FOLLOW THE DOCS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

• Dr Kristin Lyerly (@drkristinlyerly)

• Dr Erin Stevens (@erinstevensmdobgyn)

• Dr Chris Ford (@doc_4ord)

Join the fight at committeetoprotect.org.

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Have thoughts, questions, or your own health care story? Email us at feedback@pagingamerica.org.

››› The rift between MAHA and the Trump administration got a bit wider this week

First, Trump’s EPA announced that it is …

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They dig into the claims used to justify tighter restrictions and explain why, as physicians, they see these justifications as disconnected from the actual medical evidence on mifepristone's safety.

They also discuss the FDA's ongoing "scientific review" of the drug, the historical basis for restricting mailed medication under the 1873 Comstock Act, and the hearing's timing alongside testimony from Jeffrey Epstein survivors.

Join the fight at committeetoprotect.org.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@pagingamerica

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Have thoughts, questions, or your own health care story? Email us at feedback@pagingamerica.org.

They also trace the widening rift between the “Make America Healthy Again” movement and the Trump administration, from the EPA’s rollback of truck emissions standards to its redefinition of PFAS “forever chemicals,” moves environmental and health advocates say directly contradict MAHA’s stated goals.MAHA and MAGA could be heading towards an ugly breakup.

Plus: a wave of troubling news out of HHS: RFK Jr.’s push to catalog alleged COVID vaccine injuries, his targeting of the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, and a proposed move to shift special education oversight from the Department of Education into HHS. The latter is a change disability advocates warn could reframe students as patients.

And more than half of CDC’s centers are without permanent leadership, a troubling rise in parents skipping newborn vitamin K shots, and new data showing ACA premiums are set for another round of double-digit increases in 2026.

Finally, we talk to Andrew Perez of Zeteo News to unpack a new poll on Medicare for All. The data shows broad support for more government involvement in healthcare, but that support drops once people are asked to give up private insurance, which reveals a public that’s fed up with the system but split on the fix. Perez and host Miles Baker discuss that contradiction, the coming wave of ACA and Medicaid coverage losses, and what it’ll take to actually build a universal healthcare movement.

LINKS

• WBALTV: Map: Cyclospora outbreaks reported across more than half of U.S. states. See how many cases are in each state

• PBS News: The EPA promised a MAHA agenda. It has yet to materialize, frustrating activists

• CBT News: EPA looks to relax emissions rules for heavy-duty trucks, buses

• CNN: PFAS pesticides approved after EPA adopts new toxicity definition

• STAT: RFK Jr. plans to create list of injuries caused by Covid-19 vaccines

• Scientific American: RFK, Jr. is turning his attention to the U.S. Preventive Services Taskforce

• The Hill: RFK Jr.’s focus on preventive health panel provokes new fears

• NPR: In private call, Education Dept. tried, but failed, to reassure disability advocates

• The Arc: Moving Special Education and Civil Rights Out of Education Department Risks a Patchwork of Rights for Students With Disabilities

• Video of RFK Jr. talking about kids with autism is HERE

• MedPage Today: More Than Half of CDC Centers Lack Permanent Leadership

• The Hill: Senate Democrat requests investigation into whether RFK Jr. broke Hatch Act

• The New York Times: As Parents Reject Vitamin K Shots, Some Babies Develop Devastating Bleeding

• ProPublica: Lawmakers Call for CDC to Track Vitamin K Shot Refusals, Cite ProPublica Report

• KFF Health News: Affordable Care Act Insurers Want More Premium Increases as Enrollment Sags

• AP (via STAT): Obamacare rolls shrank dramatically in many states over the past year, new federal data shows

• Zeteo: ‘A First-of-Its-Kind’ Poll About Medicare for All

• Find Zeteo News online HERE

• Andrew Perez on X

Join the fight at committeetoprotect.org.

Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@pagingamerica

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Have thoughts, questions, or your own health care story? Email us at feedback@pagingamerica.org.

Reproductive Rights/Attacks on Medication Abortion

Idaho Capital Sun: Initiative to end Idaho’s strict abortion ban qualifies for November’s general election ballot

POLITICO: Abortion opponents press Congress to defund Planned Parenthood — again

Health Care Affordability

House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Monday that he'd start the process for “Reconciliation 3.0” in the Budget Committee meeting this week. There are serious concerns they'll go after health care again. As POLITICO reports, it’s even freaking out vulnerable Republicans:

Seniors could pay less starting in January for X-rays, ultrasounds, MRIs or other Republicans in competitive re-election races are highly skeptical of Johnson’s push for hundreds of billions of dollars in so-called fraud cuts across Medicare, Medicaid and other social programs to pay for funding for the Iran war and other GOP priorities in the measure.

KFF has a new three-part video series about the unaffordability of health care to help people understand the rising cost of health care in the U.S.

A new report from the Private Equity Stakeholders Project shows that over 20% of private equity-owned hospitals – 500+ facilities – are owned through joint venture arrangements with nonprofit health systems. Existing oversight frameworks may not be adequate for these increasingly complex arrangements. MedPage Today has more HERE.

Newsweek has a good ‘splainer about the new site-neutral payments proposal being considered by CMS HERE. “CMS estimates the change would reduce beneficiary cost-sharing obligations by approximately $70 million in 2027 alone while lowering Medicare spending by roughly $260 million,” they write.

On the one-year anniversary of Trump’s Big Billionaire Tax Giveaway (aka HR 1 and the OBBBA), Navigator found that it is broadly unpopular except with MAGA Republicans:

RELATED from STAT: As states absorb Medicaid funding cuts, family caregivers face financial ruin

Another Navigator poll suggests that Republicans are in deep trouble with voters when it comes to health care.

Meanwhile, the hits on the Affordable Care Act keep coming:

• Good News, Bad News from Charles Gaba:

👍 Good News! Virginia becomes 10th state to offer additional subsidies to ACA enrollees to mitigate damage from GOP cuts!

👎 Bad News: This comes as ~100,000 Virginians have lost healthcare coverage due to those cuts.

• The Texas Tribune: Texas’ ACA enrollment shrinks by 4% after tax credit expiration, new federal data shows

• Bridge Michigan: Michigan Affordable Care Act marketplace enrollment slumps amid rising costs

• CT Mirror: ACA coverage losses surge in Connecticut after subsidy expiration

• MPR News: Soaring costs and end of tax credit leads 17,000 Minnesotans to drop MNSure health coverage

• KFF Health News: Affordable Care Act Insurers Want More Premium Increases as Enrollment Sags:

For the second year in a row, many Affordable Care Act insurers are proposing double-digit premium increases [...]

In preliminary filings with state regulators, insurers are seeking a median rate increase of 14% for 2027…If those rates are ultimately approved, it would be the second-highest increase since 2018.

• HEALTH CARE un-covered: The ACA Death Spiral Is No Longer Just a Theory

Trump Administration News

RIP, DOGE. Good riddance.

MedPage Today: More Than Half of CDC Centers Lack Permanent Leadership

HuffPost: CDC Stopped Monitoring Parasite Now Causing Explosive Diarrhea Across The Country. NBC News reports that nearly 3,000 have been sickened. Lettuce or salad greens could be the source of the cyclosporiasis outbreak which is centered in Michigan with over 2,600 cases.

In a move that seems anything but MAHA, the Trump administration is moving to roll back emissions rules on heavy-duty trucks and buses. A MedPage Today piece, “EPA Promised a MAHA Agenda. It Has Yet to Materialize, Frustrating Activists,” has more.

This probably won’t please the MAHAns, either (via CNN): PFAS pesticides approved after EPA adopts new toxicity definition

AXIOS looked at some of the nearly 342,000 public comments submitted on the Trump administration’s plan to politicize the awarding of federal grants and found “overwhelming opposition.” The Hill reports that “57 leading patient advocacy organizations…called on congressional leaders to push OMB to withdraw the rule before it takes effect.” Maine Sen. Susan Collins wrote a sternly-worded letter in opposition.

Another day, another Nominee for key federal health role has a history of questioning vaccines.

RFK Jr. News

Reuters takes a look “Inside RFK Jr.’s push to dismantle decades of U.S. vaccine policy”

STAT: RFK Jr. plans to create list of injuries caused by Covid-19 vaccines. This would make it easier for people to claim that they were injured by a vaccine and receive compensation.

Scientific American: RFK, Jr. is turning his attention to the U.S. Preventive Services Taskforce:

After overhauling a key government vaccine advisory panel to include vaccination skeptics, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert Kennedy, Jr. is reportedly preparing to name new members to the U.S. Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF)—an independent group that guides recommendations for preventive services such as cancer screenings and helps determine insurance coverage

The group has cancelled all meetings since March 2025.

Via The Hill, “Neither Kennedy or HHS has publicly offered an explanation of why they are changing the panel or what they think its role should be, raising concerns of political interference into an independent panel which historically has been apolitical.”

The Trump administration is planning to move the Department of Education’s special education offices under RFK Jr.’s purview at HHS. Disability groups are rightfully alarmed and a bipartisan group of US Senators is working to stop it.

Other Health Care News

A woman who told the anti-vaxx Children’s Health Defense (CHD) podcast that her twin toddlers had died from being vaccinated has been charged with murder. She is also a plaintiff in a federal lawsuit brought by CHD and others against the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP.) The lawsuit accused AAP of racketeering for its “central role in an enterprise that has defrauded American families about the safety of the childhood vaccine schedule for several decades.” CHD was founded by RFK Jr.

The New York Times: As Parents Reject Vitamin K Shots, Some Babies Develop Devastating Bleeding. Two Democrats are calling on the CDC to track Vitamin K shot refusals.

The New York Times: Court Revives Lawsuits Tying Tylenol Use in Pregnancy to Autism and A.D.H.D.

The number of deaths from the Ebola outbreak in the Congo now exceeds 700. Scarily, 80% of the new cases have no known link to existing patients. The WHO said yesterday that the outbreak could be four times bigger than official figures suggest.

RELATED from Reuters: US to block citizens in Congo from immediate travel home, citing Ebola

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They break down support for major reforms, including expanding ACA subsidies, a public option, lowering the Medicare eligibility age, and Medicare for All, all of which poll surprisingly well, even across party lines. But the numbers also reveal a catch: the more specific and unfamiliar a policy, the shakier public support gets, and many voters remain skeptical Democrats will actually make corporations and the wealthy pay for it.

Dr. Rob makes the case for a simple governing philosophy: stop relitigating policy mechanics before you have the power to enact any of them, unify around “affordable healthcare for everyone,” win, and then fight over the details once you’re holding the gavel.

READ the polling from Navigator: https://navigatorresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Navigator-Update-07.14.2026.pdf

The panel also reflects on the deaths of Senator Lindsey Graham and the hospitalization of Mitch McConnell, weighing legacy, accountability, and the discomfort of not speaking ill of the dead when that legacy includes real harm.

From there, the conversation turns to Graham Platner’s collapsed Senate campaign in Maine, the accountability movement that brought his history of alleged assault to light, and hard questions about why gender violence so often gets a pass across party lines. There’s genuinely good news too: wins for reproductive rights advocates in Minnesota (a new bill to fund OB/GYN abortion training across state lines), Nebraska (a failed anti-abortion ballot push), and Idaho (a successful signature drive to roll back a strict abortion ban). We have all of the details in today’s show.

The episode closes with an interview with Marina Jenkins, Executive Director of the National Redistricting Foundation, on a topic most people never connect to their healthcare: gerrymandering. Jenkins breaks down how manipulated legislative maps in states like North Carolina, Georgia, and South Carolina allowed lawmakers to pass abortion restrictions that don’t reflect majority public opinion and what ordinary citizens can do to fight back.

LINKS

• Maryam’s abortion surveillance tweet on X

• EFF: She Got an Abortion. So A Texas Cop Used 83,000 Cameras to Track Her Down

• The Center For Reproductive Rights’ Texas page

• Flock Safety: Setting the Record Straight: Statement on Flock Network Sharing, Use Cases, and Federal Cooperation

• EFF: “We Want Texans to Know Their Rights”: Q&A with Mayday Health on the Impact of Surveillance on Abortion Care

• Jolynn Dellinger and Stephanie K. Pell’s paper Bodies of Evidence: The Criminalization of Abortion and Surveillance of Women in a Post-Dobbs World

• Digital Handmaidens: ‘Your Body, Their Data’—Surveillance Capitalism as Reproductive Injustice in the Post-Roe Era

• Bioethics Today: The Dark Side of Wearables: A Potential Fertility Surveillance Network

• The Daily Beast: MAGA Candidate [Ken Paxton] Torched for July 4 Europe Trip With Mistress

• The 19th News, Abortion is at stake in the Maine senate race

• National Redistricting Foundation: How Partisan Gerrymandering Limits Access To Reproductive Freedom

FOLLOW THE DOCS ON SOCIAL MEDIA

• Dr Kristin Lyerly (@drkristinlyerly)

• Dr Erin Stevens (@erinstevensmdobgyn)

• Dr Chris Ford (@doc_4ord)

Join the fight at committeetoprotect.org.

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››› Republicans are about the face the music over their cuts to health care

As we move into the 2026 midterm elections, D…

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