Alice Miranda Ollstein
@AliceOllstein
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Health Care Reporter on Capitol Hill for @POLITICOPro / @POLITICO . Making puns about the news. Write to me: aollstein @politico .com
Washington, D.C.
Joined July 2009
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BREAKING: The Biden admin told pharmacies around the country today that they could be in violation of civil rights laws if they refuse to fill prescriptions for contraception or abortion pills or other meds they speculate could be used for those purposes. Story TK...
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NEW: Biden health officials just announced the approval of an over-the-counter Covid test that gives results in 15 minutes. Accuracy is 95%. It's a nasal swab, but a short one, not the "brain tickler" that people would struggle to use themselves.
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Feinstein smiles while stepping into an elevator as reporters ask about her unilaterally publishing Fusion GPS transcript. “I just decided to do it,” she says.
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BREAKING: Montana has officially rejected an anti-abortion ballot initiative, meaning abortion rights groups won all (6/6) of their ballot fights this year.
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UPDATE: The Indiana abortion doctor's lawyer sent me a statement saying she didn't break any laws in treating the 10-yr-old rape victim and that they may sue the AG for "smearing" her publicly.
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BREAKING: Dr. Caitlin Bernard -- who provided an abortion to the 10-year-old girl from Ohio -- is suing Indiana AG Rokita for defamation. Story Tk...
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BREAKING: California will not renew a $54m contract with Walgreens over its decision not to dispense abortion pills in states that have threatened the company with legal action.
Story and exclusive interview with
@GavinNewsom
tk...
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BREAKING: Walgreens confirmed to
@politico
that they will not dispense abortion pills in several states where they remain legal. The decision follows pressure and threats of legal action from GOP AGs and anti-abortion groups.
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Protesters chanting "Kill The bill!" so loudly outside the Capitol that it can be heard inside.
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The court took a break after another plaintiff, Samantha Casiano, vomited while describing what she went through when she was denied an abortion after her baby was diagnosed with anencephaly. She said she had to watch her baby die after giving birth.
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Lawyer: "Is pregnancy dangerous?"
OBGYN on the witness stand: "In Texas it is."
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BREAKING: A Texas judge appointed by George W. Bush just sided with abortion clinics who were challenging the state's order to halt abortions during the
#covid19
pandemic. The state is banned from enforcing the order for the next couple week while the lawsuit continues in court.
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NEW: Texas women who suffered medical complications when they were denied abortions are back in state court today (represented by
@ReproRights
) challenging the state's ban. Texas has asked the judge to dismiss the case.
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The action is not a new policy, just a reminder of current law. It follows a wave of reports from around the country of patients being denied prescribed medication by pharmacists who thought it could be used to end a pregnancy.
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Pence tries to claim credit for the vaccine announcement this morning, but Pfizer did *not* participate in the Trump administration's Operation Warp Speed and did not get federal $ for its research/development.
HUGE NEWS: Thanks to the public-private partnership forged by President
@realDonaldTrump
,
@pfizer
announced its Coronavirus Vaccine trial is EFFECTIVE, preventing infection in 90% of its volunteers.
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BREAKING: SCOTUS just allowed Texas' 6-week abortion ban to take effect -- the 1st time a state has successfully banned abortion early in pregnancy since Roe v. Wade. The court could still block the law in the coming hours/days but clinics will have to turn people away for now.
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NEW: The Democratic women members of
@HouseOversight
are asking the FDA to lift restrictions on the abortion pill that the Supreme Court reinstated in January, arguing the rules put people at risk during the Covid-19 pandemic
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.
@JimInhofe
on health bill: "I'm not sure what it does. I just know it's better than Obamacare." Asked HOW it's better, gets into elevator.
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Pennsylvania insurance commissioner to Congress: "The narrative that Obamacare is imploding is just false."
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BREAKING: Arizona Supreme Court rules to uphold the state’s 1864 near total abortion ban, which will wipe out nearly all access in the state (currently up to 15 weeks). Voters will likely have the chance to override this ban in November via ballot initiative.
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Trump just confirmed to the White House press pool that he will continue asking SCOTUS to eliminate the ACA.
“We want to terminate health care under Obamacare” and replace it."
“Obamacare--we run it really well.... But running it great, it’s still lousy health care.”
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I asked Sen. Roberts if he supports scrapping Essential Health Benefits. "I wouldn't want to lose my mammograms," he snarked.
#AHCA
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BREAKING: Activists are occupying
@SpeakerMcCarthy
’s office demanding a full 5 year reauthorization of PEPFAR, which some Rs are opposing. Background:
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UPDATE: Judge Sabraw clarifies that the Trump admin is wrong and that deported parents ARE covered by the injunction and must be reunited with their kids
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.
@GovGaryJohnson
just told
@MSNBC
that his lack of geographical knowledge is a plus bc you can't get into a war w/ a country you can't find
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BREAKING:
@NationalNurses
launches new campaign to pressure candidates (from the presidential race on down) to reject donations from any member of the Partnership for America's Health Care future -- the lobbying behemoth comprised of the biggest insurance/pharma/hospital corps.
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I chased Ivanka down a Senate hallway to try to get a comment on Roy Moore. She laughed and said she’d been in meetings all day and didn’t know enough to weigh in.
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Dr. Karsan on why the ban is impacting her as a doctor: "I feel like my hands are tied. I have the skills and training to provide the care but I'm unable to, and it's gut-wrenching."
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Dr. Damla Karsan, a Houston-based OB-GYN, tells the court that the abortion ban's medical exemption is vague and doesn't work in practice: "I'm not sure, legally, what percentage risk of dying would qualify" a patient to receive an abortion, she says.
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The judge also argued that:
-delaying abortions during the pandemic puts patients at risk of running into the Texas' 20-week ban & not being able to get one at all
-forcing people to travel out of state to obtain an abortion in the middle of pandemic does more harm than good
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BREAKING: The FDA is expanding access to abortion pills by allowing certified brick-and-mortar pharmacies to stock and dispense them (in states that haven't imposed bans). This builds on the Biden admin's 2021 rule allowing mail delivery of the pills. Story TK...
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Mexican president releases video saying its 50 U.S. consulates will convert into "migrant rights defense centers"
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BREAKING: Biden admin reminds doctors/hospitals around the country that they have the right to perform abortions in emergency situations even if their state has a ban -- and warns them that they could be penalized if they don't do so ??
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BREAKING: Trump admin releases new numbers on family reunifications. They still say more than 900 parents are "ineligible" to get their children back. For the first time, they disclose that more than 400 have been deported without their kids.
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A rumpled
@SenSanders
, mobbed by photographers in the Senate basement, barks at them: “Do I look any better than yesterday?”
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NEW: Senate Republicans led by
@GrahamBlog
are introducing a national ban on abortions later in pregnancy tomorrow.
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As lead plantiff Amanda (in tears) testifies about being denied an abortion when her amniotic fluid started leaking and doctors declared her pregnancy nonviable, the state objects, saying the testimony is "irrelevant." The judge overrules the objection.
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NEW: The admin slashed 25% of the funding for the National Guard's COVID relief deployment in every state...except Texas and Florida, which will continue to receive full funding.
@DemGovs
accuses Trump of trying to "benefit his own political fortunes."
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BREAKING: Federal judge Dolly Gee just ordered the Trump admin to transfer all separated migrant children out of one of the shelters with the most reported abuses. Background:
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NEW: 528 migrant children remain separated from their parents one month after the court's deadline. Only a handful have been reunited in the last few weeks. 343 deported parents have not yet been reunited with their children.
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In opening statements, the lawyer for the dozen-plus women bringing the challenge says Texas’ medical exemption “simply does not function in practice.” She says the state's ban is "chilling the provision of medical care" by making doctors fear felony prosecution.
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Asking GOP politicians "Do you support IVF?" is the wrong question.
Reporters have to ask: "Do you support IVF *as it's commonly practiced in the U.S., which involves the production of excess fertilized embryos that are sometimes discarded*?"
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She argues that the term "life-threatening" in the state's exemption is too vague since it doesn't say how imminent the threat needs to be, leading doctors to wait until patients are hemorrhaging or direly infected in order to act.
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DHS Acting Secretary on the pushback to their crackdown in Portland, Oregon: "I don't need invitations by the state, state mayors or state governors to do our job. We're going to do that whether they like us there or not."
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As Amanda describes only being able to have an abortion after going into septic shock, the state again objects, saying her description of what doctors told her was "hearsay"
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BREAKING: Michigan court rules that the state's 1931 abortion ban (w no exemptions for rape/incest) will *remain blocked* as multiple legal challenges play out. The judge said he was loath to upend "nearly 50 years & multiple generations" of "reproductive autonomy" in the state.
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NEW: The Texas Supreme Court rules against Kate Cox.
Cox had already left the state to obtain an abortion her doctors believed was medically necessary. She is just over 20 weeks pregnant and has had to go to the ER multiple times.
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BREAKING: The Biden admin is revamping HIPAA to better protect abortion seekers, abortion providers and anyone who helps someone obtain an abortion from prosecution.
This is a step lawmakers/activists have been demanding since before Roe fell.
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NEW: The Trump admin has just appointed Mary Mayhew as the new head of Medicaid. She was previously the top health official for Maine Gov. Paul LePage, who refused to implement the Medicaid expansion voters approved a year ago.
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The state is cross-examining Amanda now, seemingly trying to find somewhere else to lay the blame for her medical harms (asking about whether her doctor ever told her her pregnancy was "high-risk" or "geriatric." (the answer was no)
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NEW: I obtained a recording of a recent call with top Trump admin officials discussing a June 24 "hard stop" for the 40k+ National Guard members who are the backbone of coronavirus testing/contact tracing/food delivery in many states
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In his ruling, the judge says even though he understands the public health fears, Texas' abortion ban clearly violates Roe vs. Wade. He then quips:
"This court will not speculate on whether the Supreme Court included a silent 'except-in-a-national-emergency clause.'"
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.
@BernieSanders
: "Republicans say women in America don't have the right to control their own bodies. I disagree."
http://t.co/ZTqAUp0aP8
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@politico
The GOP AGs are also pressuring CVS, Kroger, Walmart, Albertsons, Rite Aid and Costco not to dispense the pills, but those chains have not yet disclosed their plans.
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Republicans do NOT want to talk about Trump’s nuclear button taunts.
“I’m going to vote,” Sen. Collins answered tersely.
Corker laughed and said he may not have seen the tweet in question.
Several others declined to answer.
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JUST IN: The GOP warned there would be dozens of counties w/ no health insurers under Obamacare. There are now zero.
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Kamala Harris just said in a speech that Biden would put in place a nationwide mask mandate if elected. Some experts worry that could trigger a backlash.
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BREAKING: FDA is lifting the in-person dispensing requirement for abortion pills, clearing the way for the pills to be available at pharmacies and by mail
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.
@SpeakerPelosi
, invoking the 1-year anniversary of the Parkland school shooting: "You want to talk about a national emergency? How about gun violence? Why don't you declare that a national emergency, Mr. President?"
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Hey guys, next time people argue that *most* people have a voter ID or can afford transportation to the polls, remember that political control of a state of 8.4 million people was just determined by a single vote.
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BREAKING:
@WHO
's updated abortion guidelines include recommendations for the first time ever for abortion pills prescribed via telemedicine, which they note has played a big role in maintaining access during Covid. This comes as many U.S. states are working to ban that practice.
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BREAKING: The text of Graham's bill just dropped. It bans abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy. His previous versions of the bill set the limit at 20 weeks.
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The AG's office acknowledges the women were harmed but says that's "in the past" and claims that they're vulnerable to future harm are speculative. Several of the plaintiffs have gotten pregnant again since their miscarriages.
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Trump admin is also saying that they have not been able to find the parents of 16 children under 5 years old that were separated by DHS.
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BREAKING: The Trump admin just filed a proposal to rewrite the laws concerning the detention of immigrant children, undoing key protections from a decades-old settlement
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For those interested in how medical exemptions to abortion bans are (and are not) working post-Roe, check out my deep dive on the issue -->
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BREAKING: A federal judge has struck down several Indiana abortion restrictions, including a ban on telemedicine consultations for people seeking abortions and a requirement that people undergo an in-person examination before obtaining an abortion pill
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An attorney for Texas says the plaintiffs who suffered medical injuries when they were denied abortions don't really have a case against the ban and are merely on an "ideological crusade" against it
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Walgreens' decision could sharply limit access to abortion in some areas, says
@ElizNash
.
"When we’re thinking about states that have a lot of their population in rural areas, it’s much more likely that a pharmacy is nearby than a provider’s office."
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BREAKING:
@ACLU
says Trump admin is not allowing separated parents who were coerced into waiving their asylum rights to return to the U.S. to be reunified with their kids
New filing in Ms. L. v. Immigration and Customs Enforcement: Notice (Other)
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.
@ACLU
lawyer to federal judge on Trump admin DNA testing immigrant families: "Tt should be used as a last resort. It's intrusive and it shouldn't be done in every case. We would ask for it to be expunged afterwards. We don't want to create a database of all these people."
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The trial is done for the day. It will resume tomorrow morning.
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Cute, but it makes me sad that men need to envision a muscly dude in order to see a human being who deserves respect
Quite the entertaining & smart test for my dudes to take from
@annevclark
. Just close your eyes and think of me 👀
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I asked President Trump why he waited until today to use the Defense Production Act for coronavirus testing swabs -- more than a month after labs began warning that swab shortages were hurting efforts to ramp up testing
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#WallOffTrump
protester: "We are not for the right or the left. We are for the bottom & we are coming for the top."
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Sen. Johnson seemed shocked by reports the House could skip conference & pass skinny bill. "Say WHAT?! Come again?!"
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NEW:
@RepJayapal
says she's been told that the budget resolution will include enough funding to both lower the Medicare eligibility age **and** expand benefits to cover dental, hearing and vision. Previous reports suggested only the latter was likely.
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To sum it up: Repubs are voting at midnight on a bill they wrote at lunch and unveiled at 10 p.m. Most hope it never becomes law. Democracy!
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I think the apostrophe after the e will be what finally breaks me.
...the entire World WAS laughing and taking advantage of us. People like liddle' Bob Corker have set the U.S. way back. Now we move forward!
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BREAKING: The Supreme Court upholds Obamacare 7-2, saying Texas & the individual plaintiffs challenging it can't prove they were harmed by the individual mandate's zero-dollar penalty. BREYER, ROBERTS, KAGAN, SOTOMAYOR, THOMAS, KAVANAUGH and BARRETT vote to uphold the ACA.
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UPDATE: A full third of the officials Zinke reassigned are Native American even though only Native Americans comprise only 10% of the Interior Dept's workforce
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BREAKING: Interior Dept. IG says Zinke's ouster of Native Americans and climate scientists may have violated federal law, but they can't determine it for sure bc the agency didn't follow its own documentation rules
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People are going nuts here as some TV networks call the race for the No campaign, preserving abortion rights in the state constitution.
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BREAKING: Maine superior court says LePage can't keep dragging his feet on Medicaid expansion, orders guv to submit the paperwork by June 11
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Pelosi takes advantage of all the impeachment-fueled attention on her weekly presser to plug her bill to lower the price of prescription drugs and call on President Trump to support it.
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The court views the lawsuit itself as evidence Cox does not qualify for relief from the state's ban, arguing that if she just waits until she develops a "life-threatening physical conditions," she can have the procedure without having to go to court.
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Children in immigration detention say they were kicked in their sleep, forced to drink toilet water, fed frozen and rotten food, denied medical treatment, and pushed to sign documents they could not read or understand.
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BREAKING: 3 centrist Democrats just tanked the party's signature drug price negotiation bill after a marathon 3-day markup, complicating efforts to pass the whole 3.5T social spending bill. While Dems say they can still include the policy, it's a blow to D efforts to stay united.
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At least 11/33 of the senior career officials pushed out of their positions by Zinke are Native American. This news comes shortly after reports that Zinke told colleagues "I don't care about diversity."
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BREAKING: The Biden admin is getting rid of the Trump administration's restrictions on medical research that uses fetal tissue donated from abortions.
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This is your regular reminder that Trump's DOJ is currently arguing in federal court that the ACA's protections for preexisting conditions should be thrown out
All Republicans support people with pre-existing conditions, and if they don’t, they will after I speak to them. I am in total support. Also, Democrats will destroy your Medicare, and I will keep it healthy and well!
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There have reportedly been disagreements within the administration about whether this is wise in the middle of a pandemic, with an election on the horizon
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BREAKING: Georgia Gov. signs law bill banning abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, which can be as early as 6 weeks, before many women know they are pregnant. 3 other states have these laws but courts have blocked them from going into effect.
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BREAKING: Former FDA Director David Kessler will be the chief medical advisor of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, and they're urging people not to travel to DC for the ceremony.
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