Latest news with #HouseCommitteeonEnergyandCommerce
New York Post
a day ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Don't fall for the lies about the GOP's plan for Medicaid: We're actually STRENGTHENING it
President Donald Trump has asked Congress to follow through on his domestic-policy agenda by extending tax cuts for Americans, investing in our military and border security and cutting waste, fraud and abuse in entitlement spending, which threatens the solvency our nation's safety-net programs. For my House Committee on Energy and Commerce, this meant hitting a 10-year savings target of $880 billion across our jurisdiction — energy, environment, telecommunications and health care — which I knew could only be reached through careful consideration and resolve. Advertisement The committee came through, and then some: The most recent estimate from the Congressional Budget Office found that our efforts will save nearly $1.1 trillion. More than a quarter of this amount, $344 billion, comes from new community-engagement rules (i.e., work requirements) for able-bodied adults who receive Medicaid benefits but choose not to work. The rules will promote greater accountability and refocus Medicaid to better serve the most vulnerable. Advertisement What exactly do these community-engagement requirements consist of? If you're an able-bodied, unemployed adult who receives Medicaid, they ask that you demonstrate that you are either working, volunteering, in job training or in school for an average of 80 hours per month. Health care and work are inextricably linked in this country: Nearly half of all Americans get their health insurance through their jobs, seniors get Medicare after years of contributing payroll taxes and members of our military and our veterans get their coverage through their service to our country. To require Medicaid recipients who are able-bodied and unemployed to either work, go to school or volunteer in their communities in order to continue receiving subsidized health insurance should be a no brainer. Advertisement You may have heard misinformation that work requirements are really just a sneaky way to take health care away from hard-working Americans, or even people with disabilities. Let me set the record straight: This policy applies only to able-bodied, unemployed adults who have chosen not to work. Our bill couldn't be clearer about that; it includes a long list of exempted individuals. For instance: If you're pregnant, a member of a federally designated tribe, a caregiver or parent, under 19 or over 65, you're exempt from the requirements. Advertisement You're exempt if you're medically frail, which includes anyone who's blind, disabled, battling a chronic substance-use disorder or living with a serious and complex medical condition like cancer. If you meet work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (food stamps) or Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (welfare), you're also relieved of the requirements. If you're in jail, prison or were released from incarceration within the past 90 days, you're exempt. And if you're a former foster youth under 26, the requirements don't apply. Plainly, the policy is targeting just a subset of fully able adults who are voluntarily choosing not to work or give back to their communities. There are strong grounds for this policy: A new study from the American Enterprise Institute found that able-bodied, unemployed adult Medicaid recipients without dependents average 6.1 hours a day — 184 hours a month — watching television and socializing. That figure is 50% higher than for employed beneficiaries. These individuals spend less than a combined one hour a day looking for work or caring for others. Advertisement And we're only asking that, in return for their Medicaid coverage, they choose from an array of options — work, go to school or volunteer — for just 80 hours per month. That's eminently reasonable, and can help them become more self-reliant and productive. Note, too, that a sizable number — 38% of beneficiaries, per a new White House Council of Economic Advisors study — are able-bodied, working-age adults. There's no good reason for them not to be contributing to their communities or at least on a path to becoming productive. Advertisement Americans are smart enough not to fall for the false narratives, lies and smears against work requirements. They share Republicans' desires to purge government programs of rampant waste, fraud and abuse. Our requirements help do just that, strengthening Medicaid for those who truly need it. Rep. Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) is chairman of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.
Boston Globe
10-06-2025
- Business
- Boston Globe
FDA looks to AI to enhance efficiency
Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up The agency plays a central role in pursuing the agenda of the US health secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., and it has already begun to press food makers to eliminate artificial food dyes. The new road map also underscores the Trump administration's efforts to smooth the way for major industries with an array of efforts aimed at getting products to pharmacies and store shelves quickly. Advertisement Some aspects of the proposals outlined in JAMA were met with skepticism, particularly the idea that AI is up to the task of shearing months or years from the painstaking work of examining applications that companies submit when seeking approval for a drug or high-risk medical device. Advertisement 'I don't want to be dismissive of speeding reviews at the FDA,' said Stephen Holland, a lawyer who formerly advised the House Committee on Energy and Commerce on health care. 'I think that there is great potential here, but I'm not seeing the beef yet.' A major AI rollout closely follows the release of a report by Kennedy's MAHA Commission, which uses an acronym for Make America Healthy Again, that was found to be rife with references to scientific research apparently fabricated by an AI program. For some cases, the FDA officials proposed speeding major drug approvals by requiring only one major study in patients rather than two, a practice the agency has used in recent years. The pandemic provided a precedent, they said, for accelerating the process. 'We believe this is clear demonstration that rapid or instant reviews are possible,' Makary and Prasad wrote. But Holland pointed out that during the pandemic, many staff members were transferred from routine duties, including overseas inspections of food or drug facilities, and reassigned to hasten critical COVID product reviews. The agency was also better staffed. In recent months, the FDA shed about 1,940 employees, reducing the workforce to 8,000 from roughly 10,000. Last week, the agency introduced Elsa, an AI large-language model similar to ChatGPT. The FDA said it could be used to prioritize which food or drug facilities to inspect, to describe side effects in drug safety summaries and to perform other basic product-review tasks. The FDA officials wrote that AI held the promise to 'radically increase efficiency' in examining as many as 500,000 pages submitted for approval decisions. Advertisement Current and former health officials said the AI tool was helpful but far from transformative. For one, the model limits the number of characters that can be reviewed, meaning it is unable to do some rote data analysis tasks. Its results must be checked carefully, so far saving little time. Staff members said the model was hallucinating, or producing false information. Employees can ask the Elsa model to summarize text or act as an expert in a particular field of medicine. Makary said the AI models were not being trained by data submitted by the drug or medical device industry. When it comes to food oversight, Makary and Prasad said there would be a renewed focus on 'our increasingly chemically manipulated diet,' a goal embraced by Republicans and Democrats. 'For all additives,' the article said, 'the benefit-to-harm balance must be reevaluated.' Although the Trump administration is seeking steep cuts in the FDA's budget for the next fiscal year, the food division is expected to receive additional funds. Others noted the fine line agency officials were walking, given Kennedy's complaints that the FDA is too close to the drug industry and the Trump administration's business-friendly approach. Makary and Prasad wrote that the FDA must be 'partners with industry' while avoiding 'a cozy relationship that has characterized the agency in the past.' Dr. Reshma Ramachandran, a director of the Yale Collaboration for Regulatory Rigor, Integrity and Transparency, pointed out that Makary and Prasad were going on a six-city, closed-door listening tour to meet with chief executives of the drug industry. 'How is this guarding the agency 'against a cozy relationship' with industry?' she asked. The FDA priorities 'read as though they're straight out of PhRMA's playbook,' she said, referring to the trade group. Advertisement This article originally appeared in
Yahoo
09-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Electrical manufacturers back bill to assess energy supply chain
This story was originally published on Utility Dive. To receive daily news and insights, subscribe to our free daily Utility Dive newsletter. Legislation directing the U.S. secretary of energy to conduct assessments of the U.S. electricity generation and transmission supply chains was approved by a House energy subcommittee on Thursday and now goes to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce. The Electric Supply Chain Act directs the energy secretary to prepare 'periodic assessments' that include 'any trends, risks, and vulnerabilities in the supply, demand, and availability of components for or related to generating or transmitting electricity, including components that are necessary for the construction or deployment of facilities that generate or transmit electricity.' The bill would require the secretary of energy to submit a report to Congress within one year of the legislation being enacted. The bill 'takes a proactive approach to identifying and addressing emerging issues that affect the power sector,' Rep. Bob Latta, R-Ohio, said in April at a hearing on ensuring domestic energy reliability. Latta, who is chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee's subcommittee on energy, introduced the legislation. Electrical equipment manufacturers say they support the bill. 'We must prioritize grid reliability by ensuring all relevant voices involved in supplying energy are at the table, including supply chain vendors and the manufacturers of critical grid components,' Spencer Pederson, senior vice president of public affairs for the National Electrical Manufacturers Association, said in a statement. The legislation would allow grid component manufacturers and supply chain vendors to 'provide the energy sector with greater clarity around their current and future capacity, opportunities for growth, and challenges related to maintaining a secure and resilient supply chain,' he said. 'More insight into the grid's component supply chains also will strengthen national security.' Having electrical manufacturers work with the Department of Energy's supply chain assessment will also help 'identify where potential issues related to 'foreign entities of concern' and other emerging issues might have national security concerns,' Pederson said. The bill calls for the supply chain assessment to include 'the effects of any reliance of the United States on any foreign entity of concern' related to electrical components and 'the exploration, development, or production of critical materials necessary for manufacturing such components.' 'America does not currently have the supply chain we require for true grid security,' Danielle Russo, executive director of the Center for Grid Security for SAFE, an energy and transportation security nonprofit, said in a statement. Analysis and recommendations from DOE "will be valuable in directing public policy toward strategies to secure our grid component supply chains.' Minerals are critical energy inputs and are intensive to process, noted Abigail Hunter, executive director of SAFE's Center for Critical Mineral Strategy. Latta's bill 'will unearth supply chain vulnerabilities affecting our bulk power system and midstream challenges to process those minerals at home,' Hunter said. 'Simultaneously securing inputs and infrastructure is the foundation for energy security and long-term industrial strength.' Recommended Reading Transformer, breaker backlogs persist, despite reshoring progress
Associated Press
27-05-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Establishing Strong Roots of Grid Security for the Sustainable Growth of AI
As we move into May, my garden in Austin Texas is at its best, the Japanese Maple is flourishing, and the roses and lantana are giving pops of color. The garden benefits from the mild temperatures and gentler spring conditions to allow plants to establish strong roots before the summer heat arrives. I find myself wondering if there's an AI tool that would help me keep some of my more challenging plants alive before the weather machine turns to 'broil'. This takes me back to my day job, which includes working with energy grid operators to help build the strong roots of cyber security. April has been an eventful month for the world's energy grids, let's look at some of the key developments. In the U.S., the House Committee on Energy and Commerce heard from former Google CEO Eric Schmidt about the impact and reliance of AI on the energy grid. Schmidt told Congress 'Many people project demand for our industry will go from 3 percent to 9 percent of total generation, an additional 29 gigawatts by 2027 and 67 more gigawatts by 2030, this is at a scale I have never seen in my life in terms of energy planning.' 'If China comes to superintelligence first, it changes the dynamic of power globally, in ways that we have no way of understanding or predicting.' AI's dependence on the energy grid is clear and if the US cannot keep up with power needs, other countries like China could gain a competitive edge. The energy requirements of data centers are predicted to skyrocket, especially with more advanced and power-hungry systems on the way. The energy grid is being stretched beyond its limits and AI could push up energy prices and create shortages. The energy grid is essential to powering the boom in AI and makes it a prime target for threat actors seeking to destabilize AI leadership or dependent critical systems. In April we also saw massive blackouts across Spain, Portugal and parts of France that halted public transportation, banking cashpoints and internet connectivity, in one of Europe's biggest ever power system collapses. Spain, Europe's fourth-largest economy had no electricity, Red Eléctrica de España, the grid operator, is working to figure out what led to this worst-case scenario, a system completely devoid of energy. Whatever the cause, it is an admonitory tale of the importance of a resilient energy grid. Although some have ruled out cyberattacks as the cause of the recent blackouts, attacks in the sector are growing. Energy systems are increasingly dependent on IT at every stage of the supply chain-generation, transmission, and distribution- all of which must be protected. The need to strengthen grid security has become more urgent since the invasion of Ukraine. Over the course of a series of blogs we will explore how Keysight is helping grid operators and manufacturers rise to the challenge of improving power generation and cybersecurity while maintaining agility and regulatory compliance. We will discuss the latest trends and how operators can stay ahead of attackers. You will see coverage of IoT, OT and device security, cloud, and network security, as well as the importance of resilient time in the energy grid. In today's blog we will focus on the increasing susceptibility of AI to the hidden threats in IoT/OT and devices in the energy sector. AI's demand for electricity The world's data centers are using ever more electricity, the International Energy Agency (IEA) estimates that global electricity usage by data centers will double in just four years, increasing from 460 terawatt hours of electricity in 2022 to 1,000 terawatt hours annually by 2026. This demand is roughly equivalent to the total electricity consumption of Japan. With governments around the world announcing multi-billion-dollar investments in AI, data center electricity consumption is expected to grow at a rapid pace as AI applications begin to penetrate the market. Goldman Sachs Research estimates that data center power demand will grow by 160% by 2030. Currently, data centers globally consume 1-2% of overall power, but this percentage will likely double to 3-4% by the end of the decade. The overall increase in data center power consumption from AI is expected to be roughly 200TWh/year between 2023 and 2028, with AI representing about 19% of total datacenter power demand. This heightens the dependence as well as the risk profile of the energy systems that support the AI datacenters and applications, making them targets for cyberattack. It is also worth highlighting the additional dependency on water consumption. Data centers use fresh mains water, rather than surface water, so that the pipes, pumps, and heat exchangers used to cool racks of servers do not get clogged up with contaminants. Microsoft's global water use soared by 34% while it was developing its initial AI tools, and a data center cluster in Iowa used 6% of the district's water supply in one month during the training of OpenAI's GPT-4. Therefore, cyber-attacks impacting water supply to the datacenter operations may also be of concern. The energy sector is a major target for cyberattack The energy grid faces persistent threats from cyber criminals and hostile states such as Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea exploiting ransomware, AI, and advanced intrusion tools. State-linked cyber groups increasingly target industrial control systems pivotal to energy infrastructure. There are major areas of concern in the energy supply chain, where vulnerabilities exist in interconnected systems, for example GNSS and GPS for timing, and the targeting of subsea cables. In 2021 the Colonial Pipeline Ransomware attack disabled its IT computer systems resulting in fuel shortages and panic buying in affected states. In 2022 a Russian attack on satellites knocked out communications and control of thousands of wind turbines in Ukraine. In 2023 the China-linked group, RedEcho, attacked India's power sector during border tension. According to the E-ISAC, Electricity Information Sharing and Analysis Center, the nation state actors targeting the US energy sector in 2024 included Volt Typhoon, Salt Typhoon, Lemon Sandstorm/UNC757, APT 29 – Midnight Blizzard and GRU Unit 29155. Last year Volt Typhoon, a China state-sponsored threat actor, targeted energy, transportation, and water sectors in the US and Canada. Its campaigns affected industrial sectors including Electricity Power Generation, Transmission and Distribution. Chinese hackers were active in Massachusetts' Littleton Electric Light & Water Departments (LELWD) for over 300 days without detection. We have seen CyberArmyofRussia_Reborn (CARR) confirm attacks on US water and energy facilities. Hunt3r Kill3rs targeted internet exposed OT/ICS devices in the US, Europe, and Israel. And just in the last couple of days I saw a new headline about a cyberattack against a Canadian operator, Nova Scotia Power. In addition to the IT-focused attacks such as Colonial Pipeline which have downstream impacts on industrial control systems (ICS), there has also been an increase in ICS-targeting malware intentionally designed for adverse effects on operational technology (OT) environments. FrostyGoop Malware is an ICS-specific malware tracked by Dragos. It interacts with ICS devices over Modbus TCP/502, a standard ICS protocol used worldwide. It is undetectable by common antivirus software and was used in Ukraine heating outages in 2024. Legislation and proactive cyber security testing Laws like the Network and Information Systems (NIS) Regulations and EO 13636 require enhanced resilience in critical sectors, including energy. The cyberattacks in the US and elsewhere are why regulators like Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) are updating their requirements, to ensure power companies are preparing for the latest threats. FERC has begun to take steps to increase stricter cyber security controls for grid and power providers. FERC 887 and NERC CIP 003-9 are new regulations that impose stricter requirements on electric utilities for internal network security monitoring and remote access. The costs of non-compliance can be significant. Back in 2019 NERC fined Duke Energy $10 million for cybersecurity failings relating to the CIP (critical infrastructure protection) compliance program. How Keysight can help With cyberattacks in the energy sector on the rise it is crucial to implement proactive security measures to safeguard your infrastructure and mitigate potential risks. It is important to validate new devices, networks, application workloads and traffic mixes. Our security testing solutions replicate your environment and support a wide range of protocols and applications with real-world test scenarios. Keysight can help you to validate and refine your security posture, improving resilience to cyberattacks and ensuring adherence to cyber security requirements. To safeguard your infrastructure Keysight helps you in several ways including awareness and training, configuration management, incident response, risk assessment, security assessment, access control, identification, and authentication, as well as system and communications protection. Let us explore further how Keysight can help you with device and IoT security. Spotlight: Device and IoT security in the energy sector As the energy sector becomes increasingly connected, communications networks will include both terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks which open up additional attack vectors. Back in 2022, Starlink terminals were hacked using voltage fault injection and side channel attacks to gain access to the Starlink network. Keysight can conduct security assessments of devices connected to the energy grid, including validation of Smart Meters to the relevant Common Criteria Protection Profile. We analyze the hardware (debug and test interfaces and memories), software design, secure boot process, OS (Linux, Android, RTOS), as well as application security and perform targeted reviews to understand the security of your device. We can also analyze the security of the chipsets by considering logical, fault injection and side-channel threats, as well as the immutable firmware on the chips and the overall architecture. Upgrades, especially of production OT devices, can be very expensive. Do you really want to take a substation down because you need to upgrade the firmware to fix a security flaw? This is why it is so important to do extensive pre-deployment testing of smart inverters, relays, phasors, and other operational devices so you can fix as many problems as possible early. It is also important to maintain an SBOM of deployed devices so that you can get immediate notification if a vulnerability is discovered in a library utilized in a device's firmware so that it can be remedied or mitigated before hackers can exploit it. With a long history in the energy sector, Keysight is dedicated to safeguarding critical national energy systems. You can read more about how we keep energy grids safe on our Grid Modernization page. Keysight is your partner for energy cyber security. Visit 3BL Media to see more multimedia and stories from Keysight Technologies
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
‘Everyone should be alarmed': Older adults at high risk under Medicaid cuts, experts say
CHEYENNE — 'This is a critical time in the fight to protect health care access and affordability for everyone.' That's what Healthy Wyoming Interim Executive Director Jenn Lowe said during a webinar Thursday night, as she and other health care experts detailed the risk potential Medicaid cuts pose to hospitals, nursing homes and Wyomingites. 'Wyoming residents already face among the highest health care costs in the country,' Lowe said. 'By cutting Medicaid funding, Congress is forcing providers to increase their costs, driving up the price of health care for all.' The House Committee on Energy and Commerce passed a reconciliation bill last week, with a 30-24 vote, that proposes $715 billion in cuts to Medicaid. The Kaiser Family Foundation estimates at least 13.7 million people across the country will become uninsured by 2034 under the proposed changes, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. The webinar was hosted by Healthy Wyoming and Better Wyoming. A panel of health experts explained how Medicaid cuts would impact different areas of the state's health care industry. However, one panelist was missing. Casper resident Angela 'Angie' Dax was a longtime advocate for Medicaid expansion in the Equality State. She was one of thousands of Wyomingites living in the Medicaid gap, unable to afford treatment for her chronic health conditions, but didn't qualify for Medicaid coverage. The gap exists because the state did not expand its Medicaid program. Dax died May 3 while in hospice care, after years of battling pulmonary hypertension, a disease that affects the heart and lungs. 'A true Medicaid expansion champion, she will be greatly missed,' Lowe said. 'But I know she would want us to keep working for the health care access that so many like her desperately need.' Nearly 63,000 Wyomingites receive insurance through Medicaid and CHIP (Children's Health Insurance Program). One in three children and one in 14 senior citizens in Wyoming fall within this population, according to Healthy Wyoming. Yet, children, vulnerable adults, people with disabilities and senior citizens stand to lose the most if major changes are made to the $900 billion federal health care program, experts said Thursday night. 'Everyone should be alarmed,' Lowe said. 'It is impossible to cut this much this fast without terminating care for millions who need it. Despite what our members of Congress are saying, these policy changes will impact Wyoming in a negative way.' Impact on older adults Over 70% of nursing homes in the state are covered by Medicaid, health experts said during Thursday's webinar. Wyoming Medicaid reimbursement rates cover 65-72% of the total cost of care, according to a December 2022 memo from the Wyoming Department of Health. Lisa Osvold, who worked in the state Department of Health's Aging Division before retiring, said two-thirds of nursing home residents rely on Medicaid. Facilities may be forced to close under the proposed Medicaid cuts, displacing dozens of older adults, she said. 'Not all older adults have family members who can become caregivers,' Osvold said. 'For those elder orphans, Medicaid-funded services aren't just supplemental, they're the entire support system.' Osvold listed three other, unique vulnerabilities in Wyoming that put older adults 'especially at risk when Medicaid funding is threatened.' First, the state's rural features create geographical barriers in access to care, she said. Older adults who can't drive rely on non-emergency medical transportation to get them to the nearest provider, which could be hours away. 'Since this service is not a mandatory service in Medicaid, my concern is that it could be reduced or eliminated totally with funding cuts,' Osvold said. 'And, as you can imagine, this would be very difficult for our older adults.' Second, Wyoming already faces a 'significant' shortage of physicians, she said. Multiple counties have zero physicians, and several others have five or fewer physicians that serve coverage areas of thousands of square miles. 'Our rural facilities operate on very thin margins as it is,' Osvold said. Even a small reduction in reimbursement 'can trigger cuts or closures.' Finally, Wyoming has one of the fastest-aging populations in the country. Currently, over 20% of the state's rural population is 65 and older. Osvold said this creates a growing demand for services. Around 90% of older adults have one or more chronic conditions, which requires ongoing care, she said. 'Many assume Medicare covers all senior needs, but it really doesn't,' Osvold said. 'It provides almost no coverage for long-term care or home-based services.' Keeping independence People with disabilities are disproportionately at risk of living at or below the federal poverty level, said Wyoming Independent Living Executive Director Amy Burns. WIL is a nonprofit with offices across the state that support people with disabilities. 'Many people with disabilities have complex medical needs while living on a fixed income,' Burns said. 'Medicaid is a crucial component of healthy living for these individuals.' Wyoming Medicaid funds home- and community-based services that serve more than 2,800 individuals who would otherwise qualify for nursing-home level care. It also funds skilled and clinical nursing assistants, home health, clinics and transportation. 'These programs provide in-home support that prevent unnecessary institutionalization in nursing homes or state hospitals,' Burns said. Medicaid waivers fund services and programs that allow these individuals to live at home and keep their sense of independence. Cuts to these services will increase the financial burden of people with disabilities who already live on a limited income and will force many to move into an institutional setting, she said. In addition, if Congress were to allow premium tax credits to expire this year, many folks — including those who work in the nonprofit sector — will face significantly higher insurance costs. Premium tax credits are a federal subsidy that make insurance more affordable on the federal health insurance marketplace. 'These are not particularly high-paying jobs. We do it because we love the work,' Burns said. 'If I were to lose my tax credit, my health care premiums for myself and two children would be 35% of my income.' Nearly 47,000 Wyomingites receive their health insurance through the federal marketplace. Out of this number, 95% of these individuals receive a premium tax credit, said Amy Spieker, who works with Laramie County Community Partnership and at Cheyenne Regional Medical Center. If Congress chooses not to extend premium tax credits, 'the average premium for Wyoming health insurance marketplace users will increase 194% in 2026,' Spieker said. 'The expiration of these tax credits will impact Wyoming small business owners,' she said.
