Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Senate Panel To Vote On Advancing Contempt Of Congress Charge Against Fauci
A Senate committee is set to vote Thursday on whether to hold Dr. Anthony Fauci in contempt of Congress and refer him to the Justice Department for potential prosecution over his refusal to answer questions at a hearing last week focused on his handling of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fauci invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination more than 100 times when he appeared before the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. (Tucker, 8/6)
COVID czar Anthony Fauci cannot be prosecuted for asserting his Fifth Amendment rights in a recent hearing, Sen. Gary Peters (D-Mich.) wrote in a letter to colleagues, arguing the former government scientist’s pardon does not undermine his constitutional protections. The letter comes ahead of a Thursday vote in the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, when Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.) will push to hold Fauci in contempt of Congress for failing to answer questions after he was subpoenaed to appear for a hearing last week. (Beitsch, 8/5)
On the eve of a planned vote by a Senate committee on whether to hold Dr. Anthony S. Fauci in contempt of Congress for refusing to answer questions at a hearing last week, the chairman of a separate panel said that he has obtained a copy of Dr. Fauci’s cellphone. “Hopefully, this device will address many of the questions he refused to answer at last week’s hearing,” Senator Ron Johnson, Republican of Wisconsin and chairman of the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, wrote on social media Wednesday night. (Stolberg, 8/5)
Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced Wednesday that his office, alongside two other red states, issued a subpoena to former Covid czar Anthony Fauci for records tied to grant money, awards and book deals, among other areas of investigation. A pandemic diary kept by Fauci, a consistent GOP target for his Covid-era decision-making, was released just before a Senate hearing last month in which he declined to answer questions Homeland Security Chair Rand Paul (R-Ky.). Just hours after the hearing, Uthmeier announced a Florida investigation into Fauci. (Sarkissian, 8/5)
PolitiFact compared Anthony Fauci's private writings with what he said publicly about COVID's origins, school closures and masks. (Tuquero, 8/4)
In related news —
Steven Quay, MD, PhD, is reportedly in final vetting for the job of director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), a position formerly held by Anthony Fauci, MD, for decades. So, who is he? Quay is the founder, CEO, and chairman of Atossa Therapeutics, a biotech company based in Seattle that's focused on breast cancer treatments. But he also made a name for himself during the COVID pandemic by promoting the lab-leak theory of COVID origins. (Fiore, 8/5)
Other health news from Capitol Hill —
ϳԹ News: ϳԹ News’ ‘What The Health?’: Watch: Democratic Senator Proposes A Fix For American Healthcare — Covering All Kids
In this “How Would You Fix It?” interview, Julie Rovner, ϳԹ News’ chief Washington correspondent and host of the What the Health? podcast, sat down with Sen. Andy Kim, a New Jersey Democrat, to discuss his proposal to grant all kids access to health coverage. Kim, who serves on the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said it is “a real dereliction of our duty that we have not found a way to be able to ensure that every child is able to go see a doctor when they need to without breaking the bank.” (Rovner, 8/6)
After decades of procrastination, Congress is beginning to grapple with a Social Security shortfall set to slash benefit checks in six years unless lawmakers fix it. But instead of discussing actual fixes, a Senate Finance Committee hearing Wednesday focused on how to kick-start the painful debate to come. (Thompson, 8/5)
