"The deal would include a promised vote on extending Obamacare tax credits in December, the sources said."

"overwhelming defeat" is when you lose by a point and a half (historically narrow) www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/u...

This is how Pres. Obama responded when Karmel Allison fainted on stage. He caught her and said: “You’re OK. I’m right here. I got you." The idea that the president could -- as a natural impulse -- display genuine concern and empathy for another person feels completely unrecognizable today.

I can't believe that this needs to be said, but... Oz's confident assertion that Americans will lose 125 *billion* pounds (up from 125 million, just moments before!) is why we need people running HHS who actually know what they're doing.

Sports betting & legalized gambling are major public health problems. Excited to be part of BUSPH's team to study this issue for the Mass. Gaming Commission over the next three years. (w/ @thcallaghan.bsky.social @jencornacc.bsky.social & more!) More about our work 👇 www.bu.edu/articles/202...

Among the many amazing things about Adams pleading his case here is that he openly supports and now is asking for help from… people who cancelled funding for cancer research.

ANES Data Release! electionstudies.org/data-center/... The 3-wave ANES panel is now available. It merges data from 3 election studies (2016-2020-2024), the first time the ANES has collected interviews of the same respondents across 3 presidential elections.

“.. the Times editorial board has compiled a list of 12 markers of democratic erosion .. The sobering reality is that the United States has regressed, to different degrees, on all 12.” @nytopinion.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

The reality TV star who runs NASA for the reality TV star in the White House is pushing back on the reality TV star who thinks that we didn't land on the moon. 🫠🫠🫠🫠🫠

This is the sound of candidates losing the struggle against the crushing weight of partisan gravity. This is nationalization and polarization and presidentialization swallowing everything else. This is the dangerous collapse of dimensionality, in one chart leedrutman.substack.com/p/the-modera...

Excuse me? So the company the President currently owns is teaming up with a cryptocurrency company to create a prediction market, which will take bets... on things the President himself has quite a lot of control over? Gosh, I'm sure nothing bad will happen. www.ft.com/content/4855...

As @gelliottmorris.com notes, the welcomePAC report on Dems shows that the least popular parts of the Dem agenda are things not on the Dem agenda, while the least popular parts of the GOP agenda are things Trump has done this year. open.substack.com/pub/gelliott...

As I and several others (including @simonfhaeder.bsky.social) discuss with NYT today, pet parent vaccine hesitancy isn't just a health risk for our four-legged friends. It's a complex health policy challenge with important public health implications. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/27/s...

@thcallaghan.bsky.social & @mattmotta.bsky.social evaluate the challenge that polarization poses for our health and importantly, they propose a three-pronged path for better understanding and overcoming polarization in health and medicine. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

I know I speak for both @thcallaghan.bsky.social and I when I say we're so excited to collaborate with this amazing team!

💉 New Maxwell study explores how state vaccination policies shape COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy. It’s led by Brittany Kmush and @sgadarian.bsky.social, and supported by David Kelso ’68.

Climate science is facing significant opposition in the US. Today we are launching the collaborative Strengthening Trust in Climate Scientists Megastudy 📈 Find out more and join our efforts 👇🧵

Really encouraging progress in cancer vaccine work. Bonus editorial at the end:

"We're doing the studies to make the proof." This is the first lesson you learn in Pseudoscience 101. Followed by "well actually, correlation *is* causation." abcnews.go.com/Politics/wir...

US public health is in crisis. In this special JHPPL issue edited by @oberlanderunc.bsky.social & @sarahgollust.bsky.social, you’ll find articles that help contextualize the erosion of public health infrastructure & adoption of policies harmful to public health. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/advanc...

@mattmotta.bsky.social assesses Trump Administration efforts to undermine health agencies’ regulatory authority & how this stems from disdain for those working in civil service roles, rooted in dislike of academic, medical & scientific experts. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

The Trump administration's attacks on civil service are profoundly personal. Today at @jhppl.bsky.social, I outline the "science of standing up for science;" how we can use social science research to restore health agencies' regulatory authority. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/articl...

Stand Up for Science: Statement on Compact Corrupting Higher Education "(W)hen the White House takes over what is defined as 'truth' regardless of scientific evidence, we are no longer in a free nation" - @standupforscience.bsky.social

Policymakers are spreading misinformation about mRNA vaccine safety. That could have dangerous health policy consequences. I'll provide new data about the rise of "mRNA vaccine stigmatization" at @shorensteinctr.bsky.social -- 11/20 from 12-1pm. Registration link below! tinyurl.com/53k96aaz

The president's recommendations could put children in harm's way. Even if clinical guidance does not change, pregnant people risk hurting themselves and their children when they run fevers and do not treat them. This is a completely avoidable & self-inflicted public health crisis in the making.

Today's ACIP meeting may use VAERS data to make false claims about vaccine injury. To help sort out what's true from what's false, @stecula.bsky.social and I updated an explainer we wrote several years ago for @us.theconversation.com. theconversation.com/vaccine-deat...

Did you know? Universal Infant Hepatitis B vaccination is a public health policy success story. The US initially tried a risk-based approach to Hepatitis B vaccination in the 1980s. But vaccination rates remained low. New cases continued to increase. www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview....

RFK Jr is bad at telling the truth, but he's somehow even worse at lying.

Congratulations to @hadleyssmith.bsky.social‬ and ‪@mattmotta.bsky.social‬ on their new publication in @jamapediatrics.com‬, exploring the future of newborn screening policy. We’re proud to be able to support their work. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2837716

As I discussed with @nbcboston.com -- Dr. Monarez's firing was a move based in politics, not science. For a Senate confirmed position, there is no reason why HHS (not the White House) should announce this move. I fully support @sanders.senate.gov call for a bipartisan Senate investigation.

RFK Jr. has no scientific or medical expertise. We know his agenda – he wants to take away lifesaving vaccines from kids & families. Thank God there are principled CDC experts who refuse to rubber-stamp RFK Jr’s plans that would hurt millions of children.

If you're a CDC employee and have heard anything about the removal of Susan Monarez as director, please reach out! You can contact me at [email protected] or on Signal at phiejacobs.48 @altcdc.altgov.info

RFK Jr's CDC is shutting science out of the policymaking process. Ultimately, his actions could deny people access to safe and effective vaccines. That's why I'm glad that Massachusetts is following the science, and taking matters into their own hands.

Come see Michael Osterholm, Wendy Parmet, Rekha Lakshmanan, Jason Schwartz, and Nahid Bhadelia talk about the public health consequences of anti-vaccine politics, policy, and public opinion at @busph.bsky.social !

I'm excited to say that The Politics and Health Lab @busph.bsky.social which I co-direct with @mattmotta.bsky.social, will be hosing a Public Health Conversation this Fall about vaccine hesitancy! You can register to attend the zoom webinar below! publichealthconversation.org/conversation...

Take this very seriously. Trump *really doesn't know* things that ordinary folks who follow the news know, and he has no basis for refuting outright lies that do come his way (via GOP-aligned news outlets, friends, advocates) that reinforce his impulses.

The Trump admin's decision to eliminate an important federal newborn screening committee (ACHDNC) is inefficient, inequitable, and at odds with what most Americans want. Our new Viewpoint (led by @hadleyssmith.bsky.social) in JAMA Pediatrics explains why, and where we can go from here.

Today, Knight Foundation is committing $10M to the Public Media Bridge Fund — part of a nearly $37M effort to support public media. We’re calling on others to join us in ensuring public media remains a pillar of civic life. Read more in @nytimes.com: www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/b...

U.S. newborn screening is entering a new era, marked by the promise of genomic technologies and absence of a key national guidance committee. @mattmotta.bsky.social and I discuss recent events in the newborn screening policy space in a new JAMA Pediatrics Viewpoint. jamanetwork.com/journals/jam...

Want to get a sense of my book with @ekvraga.bsky.social but not ready to commit? @oxfordacademic.bsky.social has released Chapter One free and downloadable for the next month. academic.oup.com/book/60489/c...

I cannot believe this is a real thing that someone actually said... let alone the HHS Secretary 🤦‍♂️

This is the public health equivalent of banning pilots from flying planes. abcnews.go.com/Health/multi...

I am guest editing a special issue of the Political Studies Review to mark the United States’ 250th anniversary (semiquincentennial). Deadline for abstracts 1 September. Submissions and questions to [email protected]. Special issue calls (second item): journals.sagepub.com/page/psw/cal...

Maybe Trump can fire all the consumers.

There is a very direct line between Russ Vought's attacks on the *people* behind government-funded research, and OMB's latest efforts to unlawfully impound NIH grant funding.

New in JHPPL: special issue marking Medicare’s 60th anniversary. read.dukeupress.edu/jhppl/issue/...

Yet another reason why seasonal flu vaccination is so important: it may provide partial protection against bird flu infection. (All the usual caveats about this being an animal-based modeling study apply here) www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

By a 6-3 vote, SCOTUS lets Trump fire the Dem members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission, who are protected against removal by statute. Dissenting, Kagan says the majority is undertaking a “permanent transfer of authority” from Congress to the president. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

Here's a treat for state politics and policy researchers: Ethan Dee and I published a dataset in Nature: Scientific Data with the universe of state legislative bills since ~2009 coded by 28 policy areas. We used a machine learning model built off open source components.

🚨🚨🚨 The Goldman School of Public Policy at UC Berkeley is looking for a postdoc on US voting/election policy. Part of a partnership with the Brennan Center running the Voting Laws Roundup. (I have a feeling this work is gonna be important...) Apply here: aprecruit.berkeley.edu/JPF04879