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OAN officially dropped by Verizon, its last major carrier

Verizon is set to drop the right-wing One America News Network (OAN) from its channel lineup after the network and company failed to reach an agreement on a new contract. 

Verizon said in a statement to The Hill that it will no longer have the rights to OAN after July 31, and the network will be removed from the television lineup. 

“Our negotiation with OAN has been a typical, business as usual carriage negotiation like those that routinely happen between content distributors and content providers,” the statement reads. 

Verizon said that the negotiations were based on economic considerations and that OAN did not agree to “fair terms.” 

“Our company has long advocated for providing customers with the ability to choose what content they want to watch, and our Fios TV platform offers a wide and diverse choice of programming options, including a la carte options, that strive to meet our millions of customers’ various content needs and preferences,” Verizon said. 

The development is a blow to OAN after DirecTV declined to renew its contract with the network in January. Verizon remained its largest distributor after the DirecTV contract expired, but OAN will now be left with more minor carriers. 

OAN is also facing a lawsuit from Dominion Voting Systems over claims made on the network that the company’s voting machines were manipulated to support President Biden over former President Trump in the 2020 presidential election. 

OAN did not immediately return a request from The Hill for comment.

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DC's Reagan National Airport briefly halts flights after drone reported in area

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) halted flights at Reagan National Airport in the Washington, D.C., area on Thursday after a drone was spotted nearby.

The FAA said in a statement they stopped arrivals and departures for 13 minutes early in the afternoon and local authorities were notified. 

Reagan Airport acknowledged the issue on Twitter, saying flights were halted around 1:30 p.m. and it took until 2:15 p.m. for normal operations to resume. 

The Hill has reached out to the Arlington, Va., police department for comment on the investigation into who was flying the drone. 

Drones flying near airports have become a bigger problem in recent years, with drone operators normally needing to get permission before flying too close to airports.

Updated at 7:55 p.m.

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One in 10 abortions performed on people who had to travel out of state, report finds

Story at a glance


  • New data from the Guttmacher Institute shows that almost one in 10 people seeking an abortion in 2020 traveled out of their home state.

  • Report crafters found that the rate of abortion seekers traveling out of state has gone steadily up.  

  • In 2011, 6 percent of people searching for abortion care traveled out of their home state.  

Even before the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, thousands of people were traveling across state lines to access abortion care.  

In 2020, almost one in every 10 people trying to get an abortion traveled outside of their home state for service, according to a new report from the Guttmacher Institute, one of the country’s leading non-governmental institutions studying reproductive rights.  

Study crafters found that 81,120 out of the 930,160 abortions — or 9 percent — that took place in 2020 were obtained by people traveling outside of their state of residence.  


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That number is three percentage points higher than what researchers calculated for 2011 and experts believe more people will seek abortion care outside of their home state now that the federal protections for abortion care have been undone.  

The same report found that the sharpest increase in abortion seekers traveling out of state for services occurred in states hostile to abortion. 

In the 29 states labeled as “hostile to abortion rights” in 2020 residents who traveled out of state to seek care increased from 9 percent in 2011 to 15 percent in 2020.   

Meanwhile, in more “middle-ground” states the number of people who traveled across state lines for abortion care increased slightly less, from 6 percent to 9 percent between those same years.  

That increase was even more slight in states that are generally supportive of abortion rights, where the number of residents who traveled out of state for care only went up by one percentage point, from 2 percent in 2011 to 3 percent in 2020, the report found.  

Crafters believe that uptick in abortion seekers who will have to leave their home states to access care will continue to go up now that Roe v. Wade has been overturned and more state-level steps have been taken to ban abortions.  

Early research has found that tightened abortion restrictions, like Texas’ abortion ban, are forcing people to travel out of state for care. But more comprehensive data after 2020 is needed to officially determine this, the report states.  

Last year, Texas lawmakers passed a bill banning abortion at 6 weeks. After its implementation, 1,400 people were forced to travel out of state for an abortion, the institute said. 

In the 26 states the Guttmacher Institute determined were likely or certain to ban abortion after the overturning of Roe, 15 percent of residents had to travel out of state for care in 2020.  

And out of those 15 percent, 46 percent traveled to states that have now banned or restricted abortion care or will do so in the foreseeable future, according to the report.  


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FCC orders phone companies to block auto warranty robocalls

The Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Robocall Response Team announced on Thursday that the agency’s Enforcement Bureau has ordered phone companies to block scam robocalls promoting auto warranties.

“We are not going to tolerate robocall scammers or those that help make their scams possible,” FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel said in a statement. “Consumers are out of patience and I’m right there with them.”

The robocalls are originating from Roy Cox, Jr., Aaron Michael Jones, their Sumco Panama companies and other international associates, the FCC’s Robocall Response Team said in a press release.

All U.S. voice services providers must “take all necessary steps to avoid carrying this robocall traffic” or regularly report ways they are mitigating the traffic to the FCC, the release said.

“Now that U.S. voice service providers know the individuals and entities associated with this scheme, the Enforcement Bureau will closely monitor voice service providers’ compliance with this order and take appropriate enforcement action as necessary,” said Acting FCC Enforcement Bureau Chief Loyaan A. Egal in a statement.

The robocall scam campaign is being investigated by the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau and is the subject of a lawsuit by the Ohio attorney general, according to the release.

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On The Money — Jobless claims creep higher

Layoffs are still fairly low, but the steady rise in jobless claims may be a sign of a slowing economy. We’ll also look at the introduction of a cannabis legalization bill and daunting news about the housing market. 

But first, Kylie Jenner is in trouble over her private jet.

Welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. For The Hill, we’re Sylvan LaneAris Folley and Karl Evers-Hillstrom. Subscribe here.

Jobless claims rise to highest level since November

New applications for jobless benefits rose to the highest weekly level since November last week, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department.

  • In the week ending Saturday, initial claims for unemployment insurance rose to 251,000 after seasonal adjustments, up by 7,000 from the previous week’s total of 244,000.
  • The average weekly number of claims over the past four weeks rose by 4,500 to 240,500. 

“The labor market is softening but the change is so far gradual. The U.S. economy is cooling but is probably not in recession in July,” said Bill Adams, chief economist for Comerica Bank, in a Thursday analysis.  

“Between economic data and news reports, it’s clear that job losses are underway in the tech, mortgage finance, real estate brokerage, and big box retail sectors.” 

The context: While the increase in jobless claims was relatively small, it marked yet another week of rising layoffs amid deepening concerns about the strength of the economy. Weekly claims have jumped from a low of roughly 160,000 in mid-March by nearly 100,000 new applications per week. 

Sylvan breaks it down here

LEADING THE DAY 

Senate Democrats roll out long-awaited bill to legalize marijuana 

Senate Democrats on Thursday unveiled long-awaited legislation to end the federal prohibition of marijuana, but opposition from Republicans and some Democrats is expected to pose a challenge to passing the measure. 

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) announced the bill, dubbed the Cannabis Administration and Opportunity Act, in floor remarks on early Thursday, lauding the legislation’s introduction as “historic.” 

  • Schumer worked alongside Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to craft the legislation after the three released a draft plan last year for public feedback. Schumer said the senators have received more than 1,800 public comments and worked with “numerous Senate committees to improve the bill.”
  • Schumer said the bill would legalize cannabis by removing the drug from the Controlled Substances Act and “empowering states to create their own cannabis laws instead.” He said the bill also includes measures aimed at expunging federal criminal records of those “with convictions for non-violent cannabis offenses,” allows “those in federal prison for nonviolent cannabis offenses to appeal their sentences” and sets up a fund “to reinvest in communities that have been devastated by the war on drugs.”
  • But the newly introduced bill faces tough opposition from many Republicans in the evenly split Senate, as well as resistance from some Democrats, threatening its chances of passage in the upper chamber. 

Aris has more here

Homeownership slipping out of reach for many

New data is showing that homeownership is slipping out of reach for many Americans. 

Rising home prices and mortgage rates above 5 percent are making houses less affordable in nearly every county in the country, according to real estate data company ATTOM. 

“Median-priced single-family homes and condos are less affordable in the second quarter of 2022 compared to historical averages in 97 percent of counties across the nation with enough data to analyze. That was up from 69 percent of counties that were historically less affordable in 2021,” the company said in a Thursday statement summarizing their latest report.

  • The last time affordability metrics were this low was in 2007, just prior to the crash of the housing market in 2008, according to the report.
  • Home-ownership expenses now constitute 31.5 percent of wages and are rising at the fastest rate since at least 2000. 

Tobias Burns has more here

BUDGET REQUEST 

President Biden will request $37 billion in the annual budget to go toward supporting law enforcement and for crime prevention, the White House announced on Thursday.  

The Safer America Plan would invest nearly $13 billion over five years to hire and train 100,000 additional police officers, invest $3 billion to clear court backlogs and solve murders and establish a $15 billion grant program aimed at justice system reform.  

Read more from Alex Gangitano here. 

Good to Know

Most Americans do not believe their current paycheck is enough to live on amid price hikes caused by inflation, a new poll found.   

A recent Harris Poll conducted on behalf of the American Staffing Association found that around 58 percent of U.S. adults are concerned their paycheck won’t cover their own or their family’s needs — 20 percent plan to ask for a raise.  

Here’s what else we have our eye on: 

  • Tesla has sold off 75 percent of its holdings in Bitcoin, which was worth about $2 billion at the end of 2021, after making a huge investment in the cryptocurrency in 2021.
  • YouTube on Thursday said it will begin removing content that spreads misinformation about abortion safety or gives instructions for unsafe abortion procedures. 
  • Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) sent letters to four student surveillance programs Thursday asking if they flag search terms related to reproductive health, over concerns the data could be used to punish the students for seeking information about abortion access. 

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow. 

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Hillicon Valley — Amazon steps up health care push

Amazon is expanding further into the health care industry by buying primary health care provider One Medical for nearly $4 billion.  

Meanwhile, the inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security asked the Secret Service to stop its “erased” text messages investigation, and YouTube said it will remove abortion misinformation.  

This is Hillicon Valley, detailing all you need to know about tech and cyber news from Capitol Hill to Silicon Valley. Send tips to The Hill’s Rebecca KlarChris Mills Rodrigo and Ines Kagubare. Subscribe here.

Amazon to buy One Medical for $4 billion 

Amazon is buying the primary health care provider One Medical for roughly $3.9 billion, the companies announced Thursday.

  • The deal expands the e-commerce giant’s footprint in the health care space, an area that Amazon said is ripe for “reinvention.”
  • The purchase, an all-cash transaction at $18 a share, is subject to approval by regulators and One Medical’s shareholders. 

“Booking an appointment, waiting weeks or even months to be seen, taking time off work, driving to a clinic, finding a parking spot, waiting in the waiting room then the exam room for what is too often a rushed few minutes with a doctor, then making another trip to a pharmacy — we see lots of opportunity to both improve the quality of the experience and give people back valuable time in their days,” Neil Lindsay, the senior vice president of Amazon Health Services, said in a statement.

Read more here

YOUTUBE TO REMOVE ABORTION MISINFORMATION

YouTube on Thursday said it will begin removing content that spreads misinformation about abortion safety or gives instructions for unsafe abortion procedures. 

The social media and video sharing platform will also launch an information panel it will attach to videos to provide context about abortions from local and global health authorities on videos discussing abortion. 

In a Twitter thread, Youtube’s press account said the company relies “on published guidance from health authorities” as users upload videos and discuss abortion in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling last month that overturned the nearly 50-year constitutional right to abortion. 

Read more here.  

Facebook’s home page revamp  

Facebook is rolling out a redesign to split the home screen into two sections: one with posts from accounts users follow and another with content recommended by the platform.

CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a post on Thursday that the app will open to a screen where Facebook’s “discovery engine” will recommend content “we think you’ll care most about.” 

  • The new Home tab will be driven by Facebook’s machine learning ranking system, designing an experience “uniquely personalized’ to each user, according to a company announcement.
  • The separate “Feeds tab” will allow users to customize and control their experience and see posts in a chronological order from friends, groups and pages users follow. The tab won’t include any suggested posts. 

Read more here.  

TIKTOK OWNER BYTEDANCE BOOSTS LOBBYING 

Chinese-based company ByteDance, the owner of popular social media platform TikTok, spent $2.1 million on lobbying in the second quarter of 2022, boosted its lobbying spending by 130 percent, according to CNBC

  • The company made the lobbying spending public in a disclosure the company filed on Wednesday. 
  • The form lists the issues on which its representatives lobbied government officials. 

Read more here

DEMS PRESS STUDENT SURVEILLANCE PLATFORMS 

Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and Ed Markey (D-Mass.) sent letters to four student surveillance programs Thursday asking if they flag search terms related to reproductive health.

  • The inquiry comes amid concerns that such data could be used to punish the students for seeking information about abortion access.
  • The senators asked the companies if their software flags content related to phrases such as “pregnant,” “abortion” and “birth control,” and how they are ensuring that their software is not used to criminalize or punish students.  

“It would be deeply disturbing if your software flags words or activity that suggest students are searching for contraception, abortion, or other related services, and if school administrators, parents, and even law enforcement were potentially informed of this activity,” they wrote

Read more here

Watchdog asks for stop to ‘erased’ texts probe

A government watchdog has asked the Secret Service to stop its internal investigation into what it deemed were “erased” text messages. 

  • The inspector general for the Department of Homeland Security, which oversees the Secret Service, made the demand in a letter late Wednesday.
  • The watchdog notified lawmakers earlier this month that the agency appeared to have erased text messages as part of a device replacement program. 

It’s a confusing position for the Secret Service, which was directed by the National Archives earlier this week to conduct an internal review of whether any texts went missing and whether they could be reconstructed.

“The Secret Service is in receipt of the Department of Homeland Security Inspector General’s letter. We have informed the January 6th Select Committee of the Inspector General’s request and will conduct a thorough legal review to ensure we are fully cooperative with all oversight efforts and that they do not conflict with each other,” agency spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said in a statement. 

Read more here.  

SENATE INTRODUCES QUANTUM COMPUTING BILL 

Senators on Thursday introduced a cybersecurity bill aimed at improving the federal government’s defenses against data breaches enabled by quantum computing. 

  • The Quantum Computing Cybersecurity Preparedness Act, co-sponsored by Sens. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) and Maggie Hassan (D-N.H.), would require federal agencies to have the most up-to-date cybersecurity protections as quantum computers become highly advanced and widely available. 
  • The bipartisan bill would require the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) to create guidance for federal agencies to assess critical systems a year after the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) issues its planned post-quantum cryptography standards. 

“The development of quantum computers is one of the next frontiers in technology, and with this emerging technology comes new risks as well,” Hassan said in a statement.  

Read more here

Ford to cut 8,000 jobs amid EV push

Ford Motor Co. is planning to cut up to 8,000 jobs in the coming weeks amid a company shift to producing more electric vehicles. 

  • Bloomberg News reported on Thursday that the job cuts will affect the company’s Ford Blue unit, which is responsible for producing combustion engine vehicles, and other salaried positions.   
  • A source told the news outlet that a bulk of the job cuts are likely to affect the company’s U.S. workforce, which employs up to 31,000 salaried workers. 

In a statement to The Hill, a spokesperson said that the company isn’t “commenting on speculation by others about our business.” 

“We’ve said lots of times that, in order to deliver on the Ford+ transformation and lead an exciting and disruptive new era of electric and connected vehicles, we’re reshaping our work and modernizing our organization,” the spokesperson said. 

“That’s happening across all of our automotive businesses and the entire company. We’ve laid out clear targets for our cost structure, so that we’re lean and fully competitive with the best in the industry.” 

Read more here.

BITS & PIECES

An op-ed to chew on: Netflix is struggling, and that may be good for America 

Notable links from around the web: 

  • Big Tech builds AI with bad data. So scientists sought better data. (The Washington Post / Nitasha Tiku)
  • Far-Right Channel One America News Officially Dropped by Last Major TV Carrier (The Daily Beast / Justin Baragona)
  • Quantum Scientists Create New Phase of Matter With Two Time Dimensions (Vice /Sarah Wells) 

👃🏼 Lighter click: Look at that nose! 

One more thing: Tesla sells Bitcoin holdings

Tesla has sold off 75 percent of its holdings in Bitcoin, which was worth about $2 billion at the end of 2021, after making a huge investment in the cryptocurrency in 2021.

The value of Bitcoin has since crashed, and during an investor call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk emphasized that the sale was about “overall liquidity” and did not reflect a “verdict” on Bitcoin itself. 

“We are certainly open to increasing our Bitcoin holdings in future,” Musk said on the call, according to a report by Yahoo, “so this should not be taken as some verdict on Bitcoin. It’s just that we were concerned about overall liquidity for the company, given COVID shutdowns in China. And we have not sold any of our Dogecoin.” 

When Musk and Tesla made their play in Bitcoin, it helped stoke excitement about the cyber currency, which surged in value. It has since come well back to earth. 

Read more here

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Technology and Cybersecurity pages for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you tomorrow.

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Watch Live: Jan. 6 committee holds prime time hearing focused on Trump's inaction

The House Select Committee investigating the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection on will hold a public hearing Thursday evening.

The event is scheduled to begin at 7:45 p.m. ET.

Watch the video above.

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Live coverage: Jan. 6 committee to examine Trump actions during attack in prime-time hearing

The House committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol will examine former President Trump’s actions during the insurrection in a prime-time hearing on Thursday.

The committee plans to give a “minute-by-minute” account of what the former president was doing — or not doing — during the 187 minutes that elapsed between the start of the attack and Trump’s release of a short video telling rioters to go home.

Follow The Hill’s live coverage below:

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Health Care — White House stresses booster shots after Biden test

NFL Superstar J. J. Watt got some Twitter love today after offering his help in paying the funeral expenses for a fan’s grandfather. 

Today in health care, President Biden tested positive for COVID-19 for the first time, with the White House saying he’ll still be able to work while dealing with “mild” symptoms.

Welcome to Overnight Health Care, where we’re following the latest moves on policy and news affecting your health. For The Hill, we’re Peter SullivanNathaniel Weixel and Joseph Choi. Subscribe here.

Biden says he’s ‘doing well’ after COVID diagnosis

President Biden in a video message on Thursday said he is “doing well” and experiencing only mild symptoms after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

“I’m doing well, I’m getting a lot of work done, I’m going to continue to get it done, and in the meantime, thanks for your concern,” Biden said in the 20-second video posted to his Twitter account. “Keep the faith. It’s going to be OK.”   

  • The White House revealed earlier Thursday that Biden, who is 79 and fully vaccinated, tested positive for the novel coronavirus that morning and is experiencing “very mild symptoms.”
  • His physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, said the president has a runny nose, fatigue, and an occasional dry cough. Biden is taking the antiviral therapy Paxlovid.  

All is well, they say: The White House made an effort on Thursday to show that Biden — whose age has prompted questions about his health despite his vaccination status — continues to carry out his presidential duties.

Biden’s Twitter account shared a photo of him working at a desk in the White House residence. 

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that Biden would call into meetings by phone or Zoom. 

“The president has been working from the residence like so many of us have during this pandemic,” she said at Thursday’s briefing. 

Read more here

MAKING USE OF THE MOMENT

White House officials on Thursday used President Biden’s positive test for COVID-19 to stress the importance of getting vaccinated against the virus as a new variant spread across the country.

  • “Because the president is fully vaccinated, double boosted, his risk of serious illness is dramatically lower,” Dr. Ashish Jha, the White House’s coronavirus coordinator, told reporters at a press briefing.
  • “We have worked very hard over the last 18 months to make sure we have plenty of vaccines, plenty of therapies, that people can get tested on a regular basis… and we all know from medicine that early treatment is always better,” Jha added. 

White House stresses vaccines and treatments: When asked about the president’s risk of serious illness and his condition, Jha repeatedly returned to the importance of Biden having gotten two vaccine shots, plus two booster shots to guard against the virus.

“The good news is — and this was always the point — the good news is his immune system is very well protected given the four vaccine shots he’s gotten. He’s getting treatment. He’s feeling fine. His words,” Jha said.

Takeaway for the public: Jha urged Americans, especially those over 50, to get their shot to reduce their risk of serious symptoms as BA.5, a subvariant of the omicron strain of the coronavirus that is driving an uptick in cases across the country. 

Read more here.  

BA.5 NOW MAKES UP NEARLY 80 PERCENT OF NEW COVID CASES: CDC

The more infectious BA.5 omicron subvariant now makes up almost 80 percent of new COVID-19 cases in the U.S., as case rates continue to trend upward. 

  • About 78 percent of coronavirus cases in the U.S. are caused by the BA.5 subvariant, according to the most recent data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). 
  • The rise of BA.5 has spurred concerns over its enhanced ability to evade protection given by vaccines and prior infections from other variants.  

Currently available vaccines are still believed to be effective in reducing the risk of hospitalizations and deaths from BA.5, but the shot’s ability to prevent infection is thought to be less potent against this subvariant.

As BA.5 has grown in prevalence, the rate of COVID-19 infections has steadily begun to rise again. The case rate had stagnated for several weeks, with the seven-day moving average for daily cases hovering around 100,000 for much of June. 

This metric began to trend up beginning in July and now stands at about 126,000. 

Read more here

NURSES UNION TO BIDEN OFFICIALS: TIGHTEN COVID RESTRICTIONS

The country’s largest union of registered nurses called on the Biden administration to take action against rising COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations amid the surge of immune-evasive Omicron subvariant BA.5 in a letter on Wednesday, the day before President Biden tested positive for the coronavirus.

  • In their letter to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Nurses United (NNU) critiqued the agency’s standards on masking and quarantining, calling the current guidelines “ insufficient to prevent transmission of Covid-19.”
  • The latest CDC recommendations, NNU contends, tell Americans to mask up too late and leave quarantine too early — missteps they say “will prolong the pandemic.” 

A CDC metric that suggests indoor masking only when risk levels in a community reach a “high” point skips critical preventative windows, when risks are lower, the nurses said.

“Waiting until hospitalizations are increasing before recommending universal masking indoors in public means that the opportunity to prevent those hospitalizations was missed.” 

Read more here

House passes bill to protect access to contraceptives

The House passed a bill on Thursday to safeguard access to contraceptives, less than a month after Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas said the bench should overturn the landmark case protecting forms of birth control.

The legislation, titled the Right to Contraception Act, passed in a 228-195 vote. Eight Republicans joined all Democrats in supporting the measure, and two Republicans voted present. 

The GOP yes votes: Reps. Liz Cheney (Wyo.), Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.), Anthony Gonzalez (Ohio), John Katko (N.Y.), Adam Kinzinger (Ill.), Nancy Mace (S.C.), Maria Elvira Salazar (Fla.) and Fred Upton (Mich.). Reps. Bob Gibbs (R-Ohio) and Mike Kelly (R-Pa.) voted present. Six Republicans did not vote.  

It remains unclear if the bill will garner the GOP votes it needs to clear the evenly divided Senate. 

The measure seeks to codify access to contraceptives on the federal level, allowing individuals to obtain and use birth control and safeguarding a health care provider’s ability to supply such products. 

  • Contraceptives protected under the legislation include oral and emergency medications, intrauterine devices and condoms.
  • Additionally, the bill authorizes the attorney general, health care providers and other individuals to take civil action against any states that violate the provisions of the bill 

Read more here.  

WHAT WE’RE READING

  • What to know about Paxlovid, the COVID drug President Biden is using to speed recovery (NPR)
  • How does Biden’s case of Covid-19 compare to Trump’s? (Politico
  • There aren’t nearly enough Native American physicians. A crash course in medicine seeks to change that (Stat

STATE BY STATE

  • GOP AGs ask Google not to limit anti-abortion center results (Associated Press)
  • NC attorney general won’t move to enforce state’s 20-week abortion ban (WRAL
  • New York resident tests positive for polio, first reported U.S. case in nearly a decade (NBC News

OP-EDS IN THE HILL

The more we learn about long COVID, the more reasons we have to get vaxxed and mask up

That’s it for today, thanks for reading. Check out The Hill’s Health Care page for the latest news and coverage. See you tomorrow.

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