The Trump administration’s split-screen coronavirus message

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Quick Fix

— Some of Trump’s top health advisers are increasingly undercutting his rosy view of the pandemic, seeking out an array of platforms to broadcast alarm over the crisis.

— Congress needs to spend nearly half-a-trillion dollars on initiatives to fight the coronavirus if it hopes to minimize the damage done, a pair of economists estimate.

— The Trump administration’s kidney initiative has become perhaps its most broadly popular health policy since its announcement a year ago.

WELCOME TO FRIDAY PULSE — where two-year-old Fauci – the “really, really good horse,” not the doctor – recorded his first career win at a race track in Kentucky.

Enjoy the weekend, and send tips to [email protected] and [email protected].

Driving the Day

THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION’S SPLIT-SCREEN CORONAVIRUS MESSAGE — In President Donald Trump’s world, the U.S. is winning the war against coronavirus — and winning it easily.

But a handful of his senior health officials are broadcasting a different, and sometimes directly contradictory, message to the public: The pandemic threat is serious and growing fast.

Across an array of platforms, experts like Anthony Fauci are raising alarms about the virus’ rebound — effectively urging Americans to ignore their boss and focus on stopping the spread, POLITICO’s Adam Cancryn and Brianna Ehley write.

— The result is a jarring split screen, with fragmented but dire assessments from top health officials shrouding the White House’s sunny outlook on the crisis — often within hours of each other.

After Trump tweeted Thursday that the rise in cases was simply due to greater testing, Fauci contradicted him at a health care event later that morning. And coronavirus response coordinator Deborah Birx on Wednesday appeared to cast doubt on Trump’s claims that schools should reopen because children were at low risk of infection, telling reporters there was little hard data on the issue.

— Trump has sniped at Fauci all week. The president dismissed Fauci’s grim view of the pandemic during a TV interview on Tuesday and again Thursday night, saying on Fox News’ “Hannity” that “Dr. Fauci’s a nice man but he’s made a lot of mistakes.”

Fauci was absent from a task force briefing this week, and White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany notably refused to say whether Trump still has confidence in his top infectious disease doctor.

Meanwhile, Fauci has gotten his opinion out through a series of interviews and podcasts, telling FiveThirtyEight’s PODCAST-19 that “when you compare us to other countries, I don’t think you can say we’re doing great. I mean, we’re just not.”

A CALL ON CONGRESS: SPEND $470 BILLION ON CORONAVIRUS FIGHT ALONE — If Congress wants to arrest the financial damage from Covid-19, members must do more to tackle the pandemic itself, economists Steven Berry and Zack Cooper argue in a POLITICO op-ed today.

While Congress has enacted trillions in new funding since the outbreak began, just a small fraction has been earmarked specifically for initiatives to fight the virus; for instance, less than 3 percent of the House’s recent $3 trillion coronavirus rescue package is allocated toward coronavirus testing. Instead, the packages have been dominated by loans, unemployment insurance and other fiscal rescue measures.

— How a coronavirus-focused response could look: “To fully address a crisis, you need to address the cause of the crisis, not just its economic fallout,” Berry and Cooper write, arguing that Congress should pour $470 billion into several coronavirus-focused plans, including a $100 billion mass testing proposal advanced by the Rockefeller Foundation, a $100 billion proposal for protective equipment authored by the Mercatus Center and other multibillion-dollar proposals to boost contact tracing and vaccine work.

“Spending a half trillion to fund Covid-19 infrastructure seems preposterous until you compare it to the scale of the devastation we’re incurring,” the economists write. “Unless our elected officials change course and addresses the pandemic head on, members of Congress are going to get very good at drafting trillion-dollar financial aid bills.”

‘PULSE CHECK’ PODCAST: SIX MONTHS AGO, SIX MONTHS (OR MORE) TO GO — Six months ago this week, PULSE first mentioned the “mystery lung disease” that had emerged in China. On this week’s podcast, Dan Diamond discusses the early days of the coronavirus outbreak and looks at the increasingly grim outlook for the rest of 2020.

Public Health

ONE YEAR LATER: TRUMP’S SWEEPING KIDNEY PLAN — The president announced his kidney initiative one year ago today, pledging to overhaul dialysis and improve the oft-fraught organ donation process.

Trump’s executive order was widely hailed by health care groups, patient advocacy organizations and Democrats; PULSE would argue it’s the most broadly popular health initiative of Trump’s presidency. It also turned out to be a timely initiative: There’s evidence that Covid-19 raises the risk of kidney failure.

— ALEX AZAR: “We have brought more change to American kidney policy in the last year than we saw in the past several decades,” the health secretary said in a statement to PULSE, arguing that Trump focused new attention on the nation’s overlooked kidney patients.

“Since the President signed his executive order, HHS has launched models to improve kidney payments, proposed new ways to increase transplants and support organ donors, changed guidelines to expand the supply of organs, and launched a historic public awareness campaign to promote kidney health,” Azar added, pointing to efforts across federal agencies like CMS and HRSA, the public-private KidneyX initiative and more.

— KATIE PORTER and KAREN BASS urge HHS: strengthen oversight of organ procurement organizations. The two House Democrats want the Trump administration to move forward with a rule that would establish new accountability requirements for the OPOs, in a letter shared first with PULSE. The organ procurement organizations, which have been the subject of multiple media investigations but have operated with little federal oversight, have called on HHS to delay the rule, citing the Covid-19 pandemic.

“What we ask is that you continue to hold OPOs accountable during this critical and difficult time for our country,” Porter and Bass write. “Given COVID poses additional risks to patients, this is of increasing urgency and importance.”

“The Trump administration made a strong commitment to hold organ procurement organizations accountable and help thousands of patients access organ transplants,” said Jennifer Erickson, a former Obama official who worked on kidney donation. “It is critical to finalize these regulatory changes and implement them right away — patients can’t wait.”

In Congress

ADVOCATES SUE HHS OVER ROLLBACK OF ACA NON-DISCRIMINATION RULE — Multiple groups on Thursday backed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, arguing that last month’s rollback of the Affordable Care Act’s non-discrimination protections violated the Administrative Procedures Act by “being contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious.”

The rule, which also struck provisions to boost language access for limited English speakers, has been championed by HHS as a regulatory fix after a federal judge blocked key parts of the original ACA policy from taking effect.

Notably, the rule was published in the Federal Register four days after the Supreme Court separately ruled to uphold LGBTQ anti-discrimination protections, a decision that Democrats and some lawyers argue negates the Trump administration rule.

— Who’s suing: The National Women’s Law Center, the Transgender Law Center, the Transgender Legal Defense & Education Fund, the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School and law firm Hogan Lovells.

“This illegal rule puts the lives of women, LGBTQA+ individuals, those with limited English proficiency and the tens of thousands who live at the intersection of these identities at risk,” said NWLC’s Fatima Goss Graves in a statement.

A separate group of LGBTQ clinics and other organizations filed suit against the policy last month.

On the Hill

HOUSE APPROPRIATORS TACK RECALL AUTHORITY ONTO FDA BILL— The House Appropriations Committee added a provision to its Agriculture-FDA spending bill that would authorize the FDA to recall prescription and over-the-counter drugs, POLITICO’s Sarah Owermohle reports.

The language sponsored by Rep. Sanford Bishop (D-Ga.) aims to grant the FDA extensive new powers amid the pandemic, after two manufacturers refused to recall hand sanitizer products even after they were found to include dangerous substances.

— The bill also boosts tobacco oversight. It specifically bulks up review of e-cigarettes on the market and regulation of dangerous ingredients in cosmetics.

HOUSE PANEL WANTS REDFIELD TO TESTIFY ON SCHOOLS — House Education and Labor Chair Bobby Scott on Thursday invited CDC Director Robert Redfield to testify in front of an education subcommittee, as the Trump administration pushes for a full reopening of classrooms in the fall.

Redfield has found himself at the center of the issue in recent days, after Trump reprimanded the agency over its initial guidance for safe school reopenings.

The CDC has since pledged to issue additional reference documents, with Redfield stressing that the federal recommendations shouldn’t prevent any schools from remaining closed. Democrats, teachers’ unions and some school districts have warned they have neither the funding nor the tools to ensure kids’ safety as the pandemic worsens.

— Biden vows to follow CDC recs on schools. The Biden campaign jumped into the debate over reopening schools amid the pandemic on Thursday, vowing to follow the CDC’s advice on when and how to send kids back to the classroom, POLITICO’s Nicole Gaudiano writes.

Around the Nation

NEVADA SLOWS REOPENING AFTER HHS WARNING — Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak is closing bars in counties with case spikes and limiting restaurant dining after HHS and FEMA warned him the state could soon be in a “precarious condition where hospitals are overwhelmed with patients.”

Sisolak, a Democrat, said at a news conference that the Trump administration urged him to take swift action to limit the virus’ spread, The Nevada Independent reported. The rollback is Nevada’s first since it began reopening, and comes amid a steep rise in cases over the last two weeks — as well as outbreaks in surrounding states.

Names in the News

NICOLE VARNER will be health policy adviser and general counsel to Rep. Robin Kelly (D-Ill.), and staff liaison for the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust and Congressional Caucus on Black Women and Girls.

What We're Reading

An investigation by NPR’s Joel Rose and Marisa Peñaloza found disaster recovery workers in Michigan received little protection from exposure to Covid-19.

The NBA’s reopening plan is raising moral questions about whether professional athletes should be prioritized for testing over the general public, NBC Sports’ Tom Haberstroh writes.

A Missouri summer camp has shut down after more than 80 children and staffers tested positive for coronavirus, BuzzFeed News’ David Mack reports.

InStyle traversed the country to highlight the efforts of 50 women health care workers during the pandemic.