| | | |  | | By Garrett Ross | | Presented by |  | | | |  | THE CATCH-UP | | | 
HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again Commission said it will release a strategy to combat chronic disease by summer’s end. | Jason Andrew for POLITICO | RFK’S REPORT CARD: HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. dropped a much-anticipated report on his Make America Healthy Again agenda today, with lawmakers and business leaders scouring the document for their concerns. Toplines: The report says that children’s health is in crisis, and argues that it’s the result of ultraprocessed food, exposure to chemicals, lack of exercise, stress and overprescription of pharmaceuticals. Missing teeth: The MAHA Commission’s findings largely shy away from the “strident language Kennedy has used in the past in demonizing the food, farming and pharmaceutical industries, and leaves for another day proposals for how to improve kids’ health,” POLITICO’s Carmen Paun and colleagues report. The report makes the case that “today’s children suffer more from chronic diseases, such as asthma, allergies, obesity, autoimmune conditions and behavioral disorders, than any previous generation.” It also says “over 40 percent of the roughly 73 million children in America have at least one chronic health condition and that it threatens both the economy and national defense.” What next?: Kennedy told reporters that proposals to address the contents of the report will come within 100 days, but indicated that money is not the answer. “We spend on health care two to three times what other nations spend, about $4.5 trillion a year, and we have the worst outcomes of any developed nation,” he said, echoing comments that he has recently delivered on Capitol Hill. Good Thursday afternoon. Thanks for reading Playbook PM. Drop me a line at gross@politico.com.
| | | | A message from the Alzheimer's Association: Congress Can Connect Americans to Alzheimer's Solutions: This is the most hopeful time in the history of Alzheimer's. Breakthrough research — made possible by bipartisan support in Congress — has led to the first FDA-approved treatments, earlier detection, improved diagnosis, and better support for caregivers. With over 7 million Americans living with this fatal disease, and their nearly 12 million caregivers, Congress must accelerate, not stop, progress. Congress, it's up to you. | | | | | | 8 THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW | | 1. D.C. SHOOTING LATEST: FBI officials this morning in Chicago descended on the listed home of the suspected assailant in a shooting that killed a young couple who worked for the Israeli Embassy in D.C. last night, per the NYT. “Windows in what appeared to be the suspect’s unit were adorned with two signs about Palestinians, including one that referenced the 2023 killing of a Palestinian American boy in Illinois.” The shooting “prompted Israeli missions to beef up their security and lower their flags to half-staff,” the AP notes. The office of the U.S. Attorney for D.C. Jeanine Pirro will prosecute the case. New details on the suspect: The suspected shooter, who officials have in custody, “posted a manifesto on the social media site X on Wednesday evening, condemning the war in Gaza and both the Israeli and American governments,” NYT’s Julie Bosman reports. “He did not refer directly to the shooting on Wednesday evening, but added: ‘An armed action is not necessarily a military action. It usually is not.’ The suspect, Elias Rodriguez, is a Chicago resident who has participated in pro-Palestinian activism and was working at the American Osteopathic Information Association, a trade group for osteopathic doctors, the organization said.” More reactions to the horror:
- Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu: “We are witnessing the terrible price of anti-Semitism and wild incitement against the State of Israel. … I have instructed security officials to strengthen protection arrangements for Israeli missions around the world, and to raise the level of security for all state envoys.”
- FBI Director Kash Patel: “Last night’s act of terror has the full attention of the FBI. Targeted anti-Semitic violence is an attack on our core values and will be met with the full weight of federal law enforcement.”
- U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee: “People here in Israel are devastated. … It’s just a horrific tragedy, act of terror and another way in which we have to recognize Jewish people all over the world are being singled out for horrible attacks.”
2. COURT IN THE ACT: A federal judge this morning slapped down the Trump administration’s effort to fire thousands of Education Department employees, POLITICO’s Kyle Cheney and Hassan Ali Kanu report. “U.S. District Judge Myong Joun rejected the administration’s claim that the thousands of terminations announced in March were a bid for ‘efficiency.’ In fact, they had deeply disrupted services for students, families and states, making processes less efficient, the judge said. Joun said the massive reductions were more clearly aimed at carrying out President Donald Trump’s campaign-trail promise to eliminate the department altogether — something the judge said would be illegal without congressional approval.” 3. SCOTUS WATCH: The Supreme Court this morning deadlocked on a case considering whether openly religious schools are entitled to receive public money through state charter-school programs, POLITICO’s Josh Gerstein and Juan Perez Jr. report. “By splitting 4-4 on the question, the justices left in place a lower-court ruling in Oklahoma denying public funding to what would have been the nation’s first religious public charter school. But the high court’s deadlock sets no precedent on the issue to guide officials in the rest of the country.” The tie was in part due to Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s recusal from the case, which was likely due to her personal ties to a legal clinic involved in the litigation. Another ruling: The justices this morning also “upheld the conviction of a government contractor found guilty of defrauding a state transportation program designed to promote diversity,” WaPo’s Ann Marimow reports, noting that the unanimous decision “reversed a trend in which the justices have pushed back on how prosecutors pursue white-collar fraud.” 4. HOT ON THE HILL: While the Senate is awaiting the official arrival of the “big, beautiful bill” from the House, the chamber today voted to “nix a California emission standards waiver after Republicans effectively skirted guidance from their own rules-keeper that the Biden-era action did not qualify for reversal using the Congressional Review Act process,” POLITICO’s Jordain Carney and Alex Guillén report. “The 51-44 vote on a disapproval resolution under the Congressional Review Act, which allows senators to overturn administration rulemaking with a simple majority, capped off weeks of internal deliberations within the GOP conference about how to move forward.” Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin was the only Democrat to join Republicans on the vote. Asleep at the wheel: Reps. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) and David Schweikert (R-Ariz.), two lawmakers who had heavy involvement in crafting the legislation, missed the vote this morning. Why? A Garbarino staffer said he “briefly stepped out and inadvertently missed the vote” and slammed the timing: “This is one of many reasons why governing should happen in the light of day — not in the dead of night.” But Speaker Mike Johnson gave reporters a more succinct account. “He fell asleep in the back, no kidding,” Johnson said of Garbarino. “I’m going to just strangle him,” Johnson joked, “but he’s my dear friend.” Johnson said Schweikert simply arrived too late to be counted. More from POLITICO’s Meredith Lee Hill
| | | | Playbook isn’t just a newsletter — it’s a podcast, too. With new co-hosts who bring unmatched Trump world reporting and analysis, The Playbook Podcast dives deeper into the power plays shaping Washington. Get the insider edge—start listening now. | | | | | 5. NEWS FROM THE WILDERNESS: Democrats are already getting antsy about the midterms as the party searches for a way back to power, POLITICO’s Elena Schneider and Nicholas Wu report. “Interviews with more than a dozen Democratic lawmakers and strategists reflect a growing anxiety that next year’s primaries may be more combative and complicated than ever before — as waves of candidates frustrated with the GOP-controlled Washington and the Democratic Party’s response to President Donald Trump crowd into primaries. An increasing number of them are urging House campaign leaders to intervene to stop messy primaries from siphoning off valuable resources that they argued would be better deployed in the general election.” 6. FEMA FOUL-UP: “Trump undermined Biden’s FEMA in North Carolina. Now the cleanup is lagging on his watch,” by POLITICO’s Zack Colman: “As of April 22, the agency had given nearly $432 million of assistance to 158,600 households in North Carolina, $100 million of which came under Trump, FEMA said in a statement. … Trump’s FEMA has halted $10 billion in disaster relief funds intended to help people across the country, cut off housing assistance for thousands of Helene survivors and ended a policy of fully reimbursing the state of North Carolina for debris removal. … Trump officials are using FEMA’s struggles in western North Carolina as a rationale to dismantle the agency.” More shake-ups at the agency: DHS is “inserting more than a half-dozen of its officials into key front office roles” at FEMA “to effectively run the agency” just ahead of the critical hurricane season, CNN’s Gabe Cohen reports. “They appear to have limited experience managing natural disasters, according to bios included in Wednesday’s announcement” and some are expected to “split their time with their other roles at Homeland Security.” 7. PINCHING THE PENNY: “Treasury Sounds Death Knell for Penny Production,” by WSJ’s Oyin Adedoyin: “The U.S. government is phasing out the penny, whose use has spanned more than two centuries. The Treasury Department will stop putting new pennies into circulation by early next year. Afterward, there won’t be enough pennies to use in everyday cash transactions, and businesses will need to start rounding up or down to the nearest 5 cents, the Treasury said in a statement. … The U.S. Mint, which is the Treasury’s in-house coin producer, projects an annual savings of $56 million in reduced material costs.” 8. MAKING HAY: “Inside the ‘Save America’s Wild Horses’ Campaign,” by WSJ’s Xavier Martinez: “In August, Hollynn Larrabee purchased a copy of the nearly 1,000-page Project 2025 policy book. On page 528, she found herself staring down a call to arms against her beloved wild horses. … It called on Congress to let the BLM ‘dispose humanely’ of some. … Congressional lawmakers this month formed a new bipartisan Wild Horse Caucus, focused on promoting ‘humane policies’ to care for and manage wild horse populations. Still, advocates want to put the proposal safely out to pasture. They are lobbying lawmakers, meeting with DOGE operatives directly and bolstering educational campaigns.”
| | | | Cut through policy complexity and turn intelligence into action with POLITICO’s Policy Intelligence Assistant—a new suite of tools designed to save you time and demonstrate your impact more easily than ever—available only to Pro subscribers. Save hours, uncover critical insights instantly, and stay ahead of the next big shift. Power your strategy today—learn more. | | | | | | | TALK OF THE TOWN | | Alex Moore, a top staffer for Jan Schakowsky, will be on the next season of “Survivor.” Surely marathon days like the past 48 hours in the House have prepared him for whatever Jeff Probst has in store. Donald Trump is adding more of his flair to the walls of the West Wing — the latest coming in a portrait of the president depicted alongside Ronald Reagan and Abraham Lincoln. Emily Gabriella Sommer, a 32-year-old D.C.-area woman, was charged with one count of “assaulting, resisting, or impeding a government official” over an incident where she allegedly spit on former interim U.S. Attorney for D.C. Ed Martin. OUT AND ABOUT — SPOTTED at the CPAC Foundation’s 54th annual Ratings of Congress award ceremony at the Capitol Hill Club on Tuesday night: Speaker Mike Johnson, Matt and Mercedes Schlapp, Christos Marafatsos, Julie Strauss Levin, Reps. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.), Scott Perry (R-Pa.), Roger Williams (R-Texas), Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), Kat Cammack (R-Fla.), Andy Harris (R-Md.), Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas), Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), Russ Fulcher (R-Idaho) and Michael Cloud (R-Texas). — SPOTTED at an open house for the U.S. Travel Association’s new HQ last night: acting TSA Administrator Ha Nguyen McNeill, Juan Hinojosa, Phil Newman, Heather Wingate, Tori Barnes, Geoff Freeman, Matthew Shay, Chris Sweet, Rick Limardo, Bill Bailey, Andrew Giuliani, Rhonda Bentz, Pete Meachum and Krista Powers. — The American Association of Political Consultants hosted its Campaign Excellence Awards yesterday in Colorado Springs, where Tony Fabrizio won Republican pollster of the year, Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles won campaign of the year and Tina Stoll, Larry McCarthy and Pat Caddell (posthumously) were inaugurated into the AAPC Hall of Fame. SPOTTED: Tim Saler, Ben Rodriguez, Matt Gruda, Meredith O'Rourke, Brad Elkins, James Blair, Matthew Zacher, Taylor Budowich, Michelle Mayorga, Andrew Grossman, Morgan Brown and Lara Henderson. See the full list of winners — SPOTTED at a celebration for the Sustainable Energy and Environment Coalition Institute’s first birthday on Wednesday evening: Max Frankel, Reps. Kathy Castor (D-Fla.), Paul Tonko (D-N.Y.) and Sean Casten (D-Ill.), Clinton Britt, Steve McBee and Ian Harrison. MEDIA MOVE — Kimi Yoshino is joining WaPo as managing editor overseeing features, sports, local, investigations and data. She currently is founding editor-in-chief of The Baltimore Banner. The announcement TRANSITIONS — Atlas Crossing is adding Holly Lay, Darby Albanese and Reagan Smith. Lay will be director of operations and previously was director of operations for Rep. Diana Harshbarger (R-Tenn.). Albanese will be an operations and client relations associate and previously was a judicial intern for Judge Mark Kearney of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. Smith will be a research assistant and previously was a legislative aide for Texas state Rep. James Frank. … … Brian Scholl is now chief economist and research director at the American Institute for Boys and Men. He previously was chief economist of the Office of the Investor Advocate at the SEC and is a Senate Budget Committee alum. … Michael D. Smith will be president and CEO of Eckerd Connects. He most recently was CEO of AmeriCorps and is an Obama alum. … Patrick Quirk is now VP for global policy and public affairs at UNICEF USA. He previously was VP for strategy at the International Republican Institute and will remain involved with IRI as a senior external adviser. BONUS BIRTHDAY: Wesley Denton of the Conservative Partnership Institute Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn’t happen without editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath.
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