| | | | |  | | By Chelsea Cirruzzo and Ben Leonard | | | With Megan Messerly
| | |  NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli tells POLITICO about the consequences if Congress fails to boost funding for biomedical research. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | FRAUGHT FUNDING — With a March 8 funding deadline approaching, NIH Director Monica Bertagnolli is up against a proposed fiscal 2024 budget that could hamper biomedical innovation, POLITICO’s Erin Schumaker reports. By the numbers: The Republican-controlled House has proposed an 8 percent, or $3.8 billion, budget cut to the nearly $48 billion NIH received last year, while the Democrat-controlled Senate wants to keep the agency’s funding almost flat, offering a $265 million bump. “I know the last time NIH saw significant funding cuts, we lost a generation,” Bertagnolli told POLITICO, referencing budget cuts during the federal spending wars between President Barack Obama and the Republican-controlled House in 2013. She added: “The funding level of grants goes down. Junior people see this. They decide: ‘Why would I go into biomedical research? I won’t be able to have a stable job.’ They move away from this field.” A sizable budget cut or flat funding would also mark a major change for the agency. NIH funding has risen consistently in recent years by an average of 5 percent each year over the past decade. What’s next: While Bertagnolli declined to name specific programs or initiatives at risk, if budget cuts are flat or shallow, the NIH would try to spread the losses around the agency and make up the shortfall by reducing funding to a broad range of investigators, she said. Deeper cuts would require harder decisions. In anticipation, NIH officials have centered discussions on how to allocate funding for the next generation of new researchers. “That takes highest priority in the difficult decisions we have to make. If you think about it, that means there will be very promising research done by more senior people that will go unfunded.” WELCOME TO MONDAY PULSE. I felt like a kid again this weekend watching Netflix’s live-action adaption of my favorite cartoon growing up: “Avatar: The Last Airbender.” Send your tips, scoops and feedback to ccirruzzo@politico.com and bleonard@politico.com and follow along @ChelseaCirruzzo and @_BenLeonard_.
| | | | A message from Coalition for Medicare Choices: There are 33 million reasons to protect Medicare Advantage. That’s how many Americans count on the program for more affordable health care with additional benefits and better health outcomes. In fact, Medicare Advantage saves seniors an average of $2,400 annually compared to fee-for-service Medicare – savings that are particularly important because Medicare Advantage serves a population that is disproportionately low-income. Protect Medicare Advantage. | | | | | | | 
Anti-abortion groups are preparing an agenda, which includes rescinding the Biden administration's abortion polices, for former President Donald Trump if he's reelected. | Francis Chung/POLITICO | TRUMP’S ABORTION PLANS — As former President Donald Trump inches closer to becoming the Republican presidential nominee, his agenda for his second term is coming more into focus. While Trump hasn’t openly embraced or ruled out a national ban on abortion, anti-abortion groups and veterans of his previous administration are drafting plans for a sprawling anti-abortion agenda that would all but outlaw the procedure from coast to coast, including in states whose laws or constitutions guarantee reproductive rights, POLITICO’s Alice Miranda Ollstein reports. Anti-abortion activists say they’re confident Trump would at least rescind all the Biden policies that expanded access to abortion pills and surgical abortions, including: — Funding for military members who must travel across state lines for an abortion
— The provision of abortions at Department of Veterans Affairs clinics
— The expansion of HIPAA privacy rules to cover abortions
— The ability to receive abortion pills by mail and at retail pharmacies The Supreme Court’s 2022 ruling that eliminated federal protections for abortion has cleared the way for Trump to go much further on some abortion policies. The Heritage Foundation’s 2025 Presidential Transition Project — a coalition led by former Trump administration officials — and other conservative groups are pushing for a future Trump administration to rescind Biden Justice Department guidance that requires hospitals to offer abortions to patients experiencing medical emergencies regardless of state bans on the procedure — an issue the Supreme Court is set to consider this year. Those regulatory and policy changes would almost certainly face legal challenges, though the Trump administration’s previous appointments of hundreds of conservative judges could mean a more friendly reception.
| | | | CONGRESS OVERDRIVE: Since day one, POLITICO has been laser-focused on Capitol Hill, serving up the juiciest Congress coverage. Now, we’re upping our game to ensure you’re up to speed and in the know on every tasty morsel and newsy nugget from inside the Capitol Dome, around the clock. Wake up, read Playbook AM, get up to speed at midday with our Playbook PM halftime report, and fuel your nightly conversations with Inside Congress in the evening. Plus, never miss a beat with buzzy, real-time updates throughout the day via our Inside Congress Live feature. Learn more and subscribe here. | | | | | | | | THE GOP’S RECKONING ON IVF — Republicans spent five decades moving to the right on abortion, all but rooting out any opposition to their anti-abortion platform. Not so with in-vitro fertilization, Megan reports. For the last week, Republicans have been grappling with how to respond to the Alabama Supreme Court’s ruling granting personhood rights to frozen embryos, forcing three clinics in the state to pause operations amid legal uncertainties. Former President Donald Trump said on Friday that he supported IVF and called on Alabama lawmakers to preserve access to the procedure following the court ruling. Other Republicans have rushed not only to develop a coherent message but to understand what IVF entails. Unused but viable embryos are often frozen, donated to medical research or destroyed — which some in the anti-abortion movement view as tantamount to abortion. On the Sunday talk shows, Florida Republican Rep. Byron Donalds said he would “broadly support” federal protections for in-vitro fertilization. Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott called it a “complex issue.” The debate threatens to compound electoral problems for Republicans who have long insisted that access to IVF wouldn’t change after the fall of Roe v. Wade and are already struggling to message their anti-abortion views. “My best advice for Republicans, if they don't want to deal with Democrats doing unfair attacks, is to come up with a reasonable policy on this,” said Terry Schilling, president of the American Principles Project.
| | | | A message from Coalition for Medicare Choices:   | | | | | NO FUNDING DEAL YET — Congressional lawmakers failed to come up with a funding agreement this weekend as a looming partial shutdown threatens to shutter some federal agencies, including the FDA and the VA, on Friday. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said in a letter to colleagues Sunday afternoon that House Republicans “need more time to sort themselves out,” POLITICO’s Caitlin Emma reports. Speaker Mike Johnson called Schumer's letter "counterproductive rhetoric," insisting that House Republicans continue to "work in good faith" and "hope to reach an outcome as soon as possible." Key context: Appropriations staff has been working around the clock in the hopes of clinching a deal on some or all of the first four bills set to expire, including the Agriculture-FDA, Energy-Water, Military Construction-VA and Transportation-HUD measures. Other agencies, including HHS, are set to lose funding on March 8. Johnson faces tremendous pressure from his right flank to secure policy wins across the bills on topics ranging from abortion to guns. During a conference call with Republicans on Friday night, he said he couldn't rule out the possibility of a partial government shutdown at week's end. Negotiators in recent days have warred over a policy rider that would ban mail delivery of abortion pills, a heated impasse over nutrition funding for low-income mothers and babies and a pilot program proposed by Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) that would restrict Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program food aid purchases. The timeline for any legislative action is exceedingly tight. The House won’t be in session until Wednesday. The Senate returns from recess on Monday.
| | BIDEN OFFICIALS FOCUS ON HUNGER — The White House will host a hunger event this week, inviting CEOs whose companies have made financial commitments around the administration’s goals to end hunger and reduce diet-related diseases by 2030, POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill reports. The goals were initially laid out at a 2022 White House conference on hunger, nutrition and health. HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack are scheduled to attend the Tuesday event led by second gentleman Doug Emhoff, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the event. In 2021, nearly 6 percent of adults lived in families that had experienced food insecurity in the past month, according to the CDC’s most recent data. But most of the White House’s legislative goals on hunger have faced gridlock in the current divided Congress. While the Biden administration has significantly increased the size of SNAP, an overwhelming number of Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill approved new work requirement restrictions for the program as part of an agreement to stave off a debt default last summer.
| | | | A message from Coalition for Medicare Choices: When 33 million beneficiaries renew their coverage in October 2024, they will be counting on stability in the savings, benefits and choices that are only available through Medicare Advantage. The combination of better care with lower out-of-pocket costs is why Medicare Advantage is such a valued choice for diverse and low-income beneficiaries, and a growing number of seniors in rural communities.
Stability is needed because there are far-reaching reforms to Medicare Advantage still being implemented, and big changes to seniors’ prescription drug coverage going into effect next year as well. Let’s make sure there’s no erosion in the benefits and affordability seniors and people with disabilities count on in Medicare Advantage. Protect Medicare Advantage. | | | | | Linda Coleman of Yale University, Amanda Dettmer of the Yale Child Study Center, Alex John London of Carnegie Mellon University and Guy Mulder of Charles River Laboratories are joining the board of Public Responsibility in Medicine and Research. Wendy Sammons-Jackson is joining Cornerstone Government Affairs’ federal government relations team. She was previously with the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command. James Leckie is joining the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation. He is currently a health management senior consultant at the Lewin Group.
| | The New York Times reports on a drug that reduces risk of severe food-allergy reactions in kids. POLITICO’s Christopher Cadelago reports on California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s TV ad campaign targeting red states with abortion restrictions. NBC News reports on a growing measles outbreak in Florida.
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