Week in Review

IN THE NEWS:

• U.S. District Judge Timothy J. Kelly of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ordered White House officials to restore the press credentials of journalists from CNN, MS NOW, and Politico for 14 days. President Donald J. Trump announced last week that he was banning the three outlets from the White House. The Trump Administration claimed that the outlets’ reporting risked national security and deactivated press passes for the outlets’ reporters afterward. Judge Kelly reasoned that the White House likely violated the reporters’ due process rights by revoking their passes without a warning, an opportunity to respond, or clear rules.
• The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) canceled approximately 315,000 enrollments in the Affordable Care Act Marketplace, which covered more than 760,000 people, after determining that the enrollments were unauthorized. CMS estimated that the cancellations will return roughly $2.2 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies. The agency also said it is reviewing approximately 419,000 additional enrollees to verify their immigration status and eligibility for subsidies. CMS attributed the actions to suspected improper enrollments and unauthorized activity involving insurance agents and brokers. As part of the enforcement effort, the agency issued termination notices to more than 200 noncompliant agents and brokers and announced a temporary moratorium on new registrations for certain brokers for the 2027 plan year.
• President Trump issued an executive order loosening hunting regulations on federal land. The order directed the Secretary of the Interior to open Castle Mountains National Monument and Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve to hunting and instructed the Secretary of the Interior, the Secretary of Defense, and the Secretary of Commerce to increase access to hunting and fishing on other federal lands under their control, with the exception of other national parks and monuments. The order also stated that the Secretary of Labor and the Secretary of Education should provide guidance about whether schools can use federal education funds to finance hunting education programs.
• Texas Governor Greg Abbott instructed the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to stop issuing permits for data centers until other state agencies finish auditing data centers’ electrical and water demands. Abbott stated that the audit is necessary to ensure that data center projects can cover their own electrical infrastructure costs and will not use water that local communities need. The pause on data center permitting reflects a shift in Abbott’s approach, after he initially welcomed data center development in Texas.
• The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a final rule replacing references to “animal testing” throughout its drug safety regulations with the broader term “nonclinical” testing. In 2022, Congress updated federal law to replace references to animal testing with the broader term “nonclinical tests,” which includes methods such as using human cells, computer models, and other advanced technologies. The new rule aligns FDA’s regulations with that statutory change, but it does not eliminate animal studies altogether or impose new requirements on drug developers. Acting FDA Commissioner of Food and Drugs, Kyle Diamantas, stated that the new rule aims to “support rigorous, modern science,” which includes “animal studies when they remain appropriate” and valid alternatives “when they can provide the evidence needed to protect patients.”
• The U.S. Department of Transportation issued a final rule changing how airlines report the causes of flight delays and cancellations. Airlines have offered passengers certain free amenities and compensation for delays or cancellations within the airlines’ control since 2002. The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2024, however, excluded certain types of maintenance and cleaning delays from the disruptions attributed to be within an airline’s control, such as unscheduled repairs that must be completed before takeoff. The Transportation Department acknowledged that passengers may receive fewer amenities and less compensation as a result.
• The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) eliminated several outdated regulatory requirements, including provisions the agency had not enforced in decades. The changes removed an interim safety standard for bicycle helmets that applied only to helmets manufactured between 1995 and 1999; a 1977 warning requirement for certain aerosol products containing chlorofluorocarbons; and requirements for manufacturers and importers of certain products to submit copies of labels, warnings, and instructions to the CPSC. The agency said that the provisions created unnecessary compliance burdens and confusion for regulated businesses. The changes leave existing consumer safety protections unaltered, including the CPSC’s permanent bicycle helmet standard and requirements that manufacturers provide applicable safety warnings and instructions. The changes took effect following publication of a direct final rule in July.
• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) censured OTC Link LLC and ordered the broker-dealer to pay a $575,000 civil penalty for repeated violations of Regulation Systems Compliance and Integrity (SCI). From 2016 to 2025, OTC Link failed to establish, maintain, and enforce required policies and procedures for its alternative trading system, including those governing system security, access controls, and vulnerability management. SEC examiners identified deficiencies in the company’s policies and procedures multiple times, but the company failed to address them promptly. The SEC found that OTC Link therefore violated three Regulation SCI requirements concerning the establishment and review of policies and procedures and the remediation of deficiencies. Without admitting the findings, OTC Link agreed to the penalty, the censure, and a cease-and-desist order.

WHAT WE’RE READING:

• In a recent report, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) examined the readiness of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to address climate-related diseases and pests. GAO noted that diseases and pests have significant economic effects on the agricultural and forestry sectors and observed that climate change may increase those economic effects by expanding the geographic range and seasonal timing of many pests. GAO found that USDA had not taken significant action to promote the climate resilience of farms and forests. GAO then recommended that USDA complete a nationwide assessment of climate-related risks posed by diseases and pests to develop a national strategy to address the risks.
• In a recent Urban Institute report, Lisa Clemans-Cope and Jessica Banthin, senior fellows at the Institute’s Health, Income, and Benefits Policy Division, argued that brand-name drug manufacturers use a combination of tactics to delay competition from generic drugs, whose entry can lower prices by 80 percent or more. Clemans-Cope and Banthin reviewed 150 studies and found that these tactics—including accumulating secondary patents and switching patients to slightly reformulated drugs—are generally lawful on their own but reinforce one another, costing patients, employers, and public programs billions of dollars. They explained that although recent reforms have narrowed loopholes, the reforms remain insufficient because generic manufacturers must rely on case-by-case litigation rather than comprehensive regulations. Clemans-Cope and Banthin concluded that Congress should presume that payments to delay generic entry are anticompetitive and clarify FDA’s authority to address tactics such as sample denials and misuse of citizen petitions.
• In a recent Brookings Institution essay, Anthony F. Pipa, senior fellow at the Center for Sustainable Development at Brookings, and several coauthors examined the factors contributing to health disparities in rural America and their broader economic effects. They found that rural health outcomes are shaped not only by access to health care, but also by housing, transportation, food access, poverty, education, employment benefits, and social infrastructure. They emphasized that these factors can reinforce a cycle in which poor health reduces workforce participation and weakens local economies, and economic disadvantage further limits communities’ ability to improve health. The coauthors also highlighted the importance of trusted local relationships, noting that technology and health services are most effective when residents can access them and trust the people providing them.

EDITOR’S CHOICE:

• In an essay in The Regulatory Review, Marissa Martino Golden, an associate professor at Bryn Mawr College, provided historical context for the Trump Administration’s deregulation efforts. Golden explained that President Ronald Reagan had also tried to decrease government regulation but congressional and judicial oversight limited the amount of deregulation he could achieve. Contrasting President Trump and President Reagan, Golden noted that President Trump’s appointees to agency positions have gone further than did President Reagan’s appointees to limit the influence of career experts who were not political appointees. As a result, there has been significant civil service turnover in recent years. Golden warned that the loss of career experts may make it harder for future presidents to reintroduce regulations.