U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii, and nine other senators are raising a red flag over the new Trump administration’s pause on the Centers for Disease Control, Food and Drug Administration and National Institutes on Health releasing public health warnings and other critical communications pending a review. 

What You Need To Know

  • The Associated Press reported last week that acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Dorothy Fink sent a memo to the federal health agencies informing them that an immediate pause was ordered for 'regulations, guidance, announcements, press releases, social media posts and website posts until such communications had been approved by a political appointee'
  • The pause, effective through Feb. 1, includes publication of rules and regulations in the Federal Register and the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report
  • Schatz joined Sens. Alex Padilla, D-Calif.; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; Dick Durbin; D-Ill.; Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Peter Welch, D-Vt.; Ed Markey, D-Mass.; Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Tina Smith, D-Minn., in introducing a resolution calling for uninterrupted health warning services for the American people
  • While such temporary pauses in communication are not uncommon during cabinet transitions, they are traditionally completed by the time a new president takes office

The Associated Press reported last week that acting secretary of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Dorothy Fink sent a memo to the federal health agencies informing them that an immediate pause was ordered for “regulations, guidance, announcements, press releases, social media posts and website posts until such communications had been approved by a political appointee.”

The pause, effective through Feb. 1, includes publication of rules and regulations in the Federal Register and the CDC’s Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

“People deserve to have timely and accurate information about dangerous disease outbreaks or contamination in their food,” Schatz said in a statement released over the weekend. “This shouldn’t be controversial or political. It’s about keeping people healthy and safe.”

Schatz joined Sens. Alex Padilla, D-Calif.; Tammy Baldwin, D-Wis.; Dick Durbin; D-Ill.; Chris Van Hollen, D-Md.; Peter Welch, D-Vt.; Ed Markey, D-Mass.; Jack Reed, D-R.I.; Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn.; and Tina Smith, D-Minn., in introducing a resolution calling for uninterrupted health warning services for the American people.

“It is the sense of the Senate that the people of the United States should have continuous access to timely, up-to-date and accurate health information provided through the Department of Health and Human Services,” the resolution reads.

While such temporary pauses in communication are not uncommon during cabinet transitions, they are traditionally completed by the time a new president takes office.

The resolution notes that the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report has been published without interruption every week since 1961.

It also noted that last year, public health information reported through the CDC’s Health Alert Network included warnings of increased risks of avian influenza, dengue virus and measles in the United States.

“Avian flu is spreading and the Trump administration thinks it’s a good idea to stop federal health agencies from communicating with the public? This is dangerous and misguided,” Welch said in a statement released over the weekend.

Neither Fink nor any other DHHS official has publicly commented on the pause.

Michael Tsai covers local and state politics for Spectrum News Hawaii. He can be reached at michael.tsai@charter.com.