HHS News

President Joe Biden’s Department of Health and Human Services is creating a “strategic plan” to advance goals for “diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility” in the federal workforce, according to an internal document obtained by The Daily Signal.  The strategic plan at HHS, implemented in response to Biden’s executive order in June 2021, will build on…

A month after the Senate issued a bipartisan report flagging oversight failures by government contractors that house migrant children, the Biden administration awarded new contracts worth tens of millions of dollars to two of those organizations.  Awarding of the contracts prompted particular concern from Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee. …

In the midst of a border crisis, the Biden administration approved $77.5 million in contracts for a nonprofit to house children who illegally crossed the southern border alone, even though that organization didn’t properly document the release of hundreds of such children during the Obama administration.  BCFS Health and Human Services, a longtime federal contractor…

Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra is refusing to address Republican allegations that he violated federal conscience protections and worked at the “behest of the abortion industry,” a letter obtained by The Daily Signal shows.  “Xavier Becerra is too busy protecting hospitals that violate the rights of their nurses to give a straight answer,”…

The Senate narrowly confirmed California Attorney General Xavier Becerra Thursday to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Becerra, who also previously served in the House of Representatives, was confirmed 50-49, with Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, joining Democrats in voting for him. The vote was the closest of any of President Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominees so…

President Joe Biden’s Cabinet nominee Xavier Becerra would not say Tuesday why he voted against a ban on partial-birth abortion. Republican senators pressed Becerra, the California attorney general, on his past record on abortion during Tuesday’s hearing.  Pro-life advocates and lawmakers called on the Senate Monday to reject Becerra as the president’s choice for secretary of the U.S….

California Attorney General Xavier Becerra, with a record in that state office and Congress that conservatives consider extreme, is headed for a rocky confirmation battle to lead the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.  Former Vice President Joe Biden, in announcing Sunday his intent to nominate Becerra for HHS secretary, cited Becerra’s leadership in…

Pro-life groups and lawmakers denounced former Vice President Joe Biden’s choice of California Attorney General Xavier Becerra for secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. “Far from ‘uniting’ the country, Biden has proven yet again he is an extremist on abortion,” Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a statement following Biden’s Monday…

In another Trump administration move to boost transparency and roll back regulations, the Department of Health and Human Services issued two statements of policy on Tuesday that will affect any future imposition of regulations going forward.  The first policy requires the department and its agencies to demonstrate to the public how they reached a conclusion…

Federal health officials announced a final rule Friday scrapping an Obama-era regulation that forced medical workers to perform abortions despite their religious beliefs. The Obama administration’s 2016 regulation, already vacated by a court ruling, also redefined sex-based discrimination in health care to include questions of gender identity.  The old rule would have imposed nearly $3 billion…

Sen. Ted Cruz has asked Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar to expedite production and distribution of medical supplies such as ventilators for those infected by the coronavirus.  “On Wednesday, March 18, 2020, President Trump signed an executive order invoking the Defense Production Act of 1950 (DPA) and delegating authority to you, as the…

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar called President Donald Trump the most pro-life president in U.S. history Friday as he noted the accomplishments of his department and the administration.  “When I think about the very core of our mission, and why I am so proud to do the work we are doing, it’s pretty…

The U.S. health and human services secretary condemned efforts to provide international access to abortion at a United Nations conference Monday. Secretary Alex Azar spoke Monday morning at the U.N. General Assembly in New York and told the gathered nations abortion is not an international right. Azar also condemned the use of “ambiguous terms and expressions such…

The founder of an organization of community care clinics that cater to women praises the Trump administration for deciding to give her group $5.1 million over three years for use in California, a grant that once might have gone to Planned Parenthood. “With this grant, the administration has opened up a new avenue of health…