Administration officials have given contradictory statements about how COVID-19 will affect the US, and it is not clear who is leading the infectious disease response effort, critics say.

An amendment to the 2020 funding bill would prohibit the Trump administration from convening ethics advisory boards to review funding proposals involving the tissues.

A spending bill approved by a House committee would require the agency to “accelerate” the replacement of nonhuman primates in laboratories starting in October.

The ongoing stalemate over the federal budget has forced one-quarter of the US government to begin a second week of closure.

The midterm elections flip several House seats in favor of Democratic candidates with STEM backgrounds.

Opponents of the proposal call the changes a “wildlife extinction package.”

Appointed by Ronald Reagan, Heckler led the agency from 1983 to 1985, and helped promote research into AIDS.

NASA, NSF, and NIH are expected to receive higher financial backing for the 2019 fiscal year, going above and beyond the President’s proposed budget.  

Medical groups have criticized the legislation, which will give terminal patients access to experimental treatments, as dangerous and unnecessary.