Trump Orders New NIH Initiative on Women’s Health

The president and first lady signed the executive order.
Reuters
By Yuval Rosenberg and Michael Rainey

Happy Monday! With just over two weeks until Election Day, President Trump headed to ruby-red Kansas, where he'll stump this evening for Republican Sen. Roger Marshall, who is in a tight race against Democrat Adam Hamilton. The trip is part of a campaign swing that is scheduled to take him to seven states in seven days as he tries to prevent a blue wave from sweeping Democrats into control of Congress. Early in-person voting begins in six states today, including the key Senate battlegrounds of Alaska, South Carolina and Texas.\n\nHere's what else is happening.

Trump Signs Executive Order Creating NIH Division and White House Task Force on Women's Health

President Trump today signed an executive order directing the creation of a National Institutes of Health division and a White House task force focused on women's health.

"That's a big deal. They've been after it for a long time," Trump said at a White House event, where he credited First Lady Melania Trump with the initiative. "When I heard about it, I said, 'Are you sure they don't have that?' Who the hell wouldn't have a woman's health division? Melania said they don't have it."

The first lady reportedly pushed the administration for a greater emphasis on women's health. She added her signature to the executive order after the president signed it.

The NIH does have an Office of Research on Women's Health, which was established in 1990. Trump's order directs the secretary of Health and Human Services and the head of the NIH to establish the new division within 90 days. That new division, according to Trump's order and HHS, will coordinate with the existing office to expand work on understudied aspects of women's health and speed the translation of scientific research into better prevention, diagnosis, treatment and clinical care.

"This new division will help close lingering evidence gaps, expand and maximize the impact of our research investments, and bring discoveries closer to patients," NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya said in a statement.

HHS said the new division will advance research into cardiovascular disease, cancer, Alzheimer's disease, autoimmune and inflammatory conditions, chronic pain, endometriosis, fibroids, polyendocrine metabolic ovary syndrome, infertility, maternal health, menopause, osteoporosis and other conditions.

The NIH reportedly spends about $5 billion a year on women's health, and it's unclear how Trump's executive order will affect that or how much funding will be directed toward the new division and its goals.

The Trump administration has previously proposed sharp healthcare cuts, including a proposal as part of the president's budget for fiscal year 2026 to cut the NIH budget by about 40% compared to 2025 levels. Congress rejected that request. The president's budget for fiscal 2027 requested a budget cut of about $5 billion, or about 12%, for the NIH. A previous executive order signed by Trump seeks to give political appointees control over NIH grantmaking.

Separately, Trump's new White House task force on women's health will be led by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Trump's order calls for the Department of Health and Human Services to provide funding for the administrative costs of the new task force.

Trump's order also revokes a March 2024 executive order by President Joe Biden on advancing women's health research and a November 2023 Biden memo creating a White House initiative on women's health research.

Quote of the Day: An Unnecessary Tax Break?

"If you've just drunk five cups of coffee, a sixth cup of coffee isn't going to do you much good. You're stimulating something that doesn't need stimulating."

− David Kelly, chief global strategist at JPMorgan Asset Management, speaking to The New York Times about the business tax breaks that Republicans passed as part of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act last year.

The tax break package includes more generous deductions for business investment, which some of the world's largest and most profitable tech companies have taken advantage of in the mad rush to build artificial intelligence infrastructure. Thanks in large part to those deductions, U.S. federal tax revenues from corporate income fell by $70 billion, or 15%, in fiscal year 2026, continuing a trend that started the year before.

Some economists have questioned the need for more generous deductions, given tech firms' intense interest in AI. "These companies' leaders aren't really acting as if they're feeling constrained in their investment behavior right now," Matt Gardner, a senior fellow at the liberal-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy, told The Times. "It seems pretty uncontroversial to say that we are rewarding these companies for what they were going to do anyway."

Supporters of the deductions say they are working exactly as intended, helping companies invest heavily in projects that will eventually produce big profits and substantial tax payments. That assumes, of course, that the AI industry is correct and its technology will massively expand the size of the economy. If the industry is wrong, though, the tax deductions could just end up leaving a bigger hole in the federal budget, with little to show for the loss in the long run.

Number of the Day: 33%

President Trump's approval rating fell to a new low of 33% in a Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll released this past weekend. The rating is the lowest recorded at any point in either of Trump's terms in office.

In another bad data point for Republicans, the percentage of people who said they are in worse shape financially under the current president rose to an all-time high of 48% (in data that goes back to 1986). One of the biggest sources of financial pain is the price of gasoline. Before Trump started the war with Iran in February, 71% of poll respondents said gasoline is affordable; now, 71% say gas is not affordable.

Overall, the poll provides plenty of reason for Republicans to be concerned ahead of the midterm vote, amid growing signs that voters are deeply dissatisfied with Trump's performance and may use the midterms to send a message to the White House.

"The collective results of the new survey reveal an electorate that has lost faith in the president, is deeply worried about his decision to go to war with Iran, is feeling the effects of that war - especially the price of gasoline - on their pocketbooks and now has more confidence in Democrats than Republicans to deal with major issues," the Post's Dan Balz and Scott Clement wrote. "Today, 72 percent say the country is heading in the wrong direction, up five points since April."

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