science
The NIH scientist taking on ultra-processed food
As one of his swan song stories for STAT, my colleague Nick Florko profiles Kevin Hall, an NIH scientist tackling the big issue of studying ultra-processed food with a comparatively small part of the agency’s budget.
Hall is taking any help he can get — including pleading with food conglomerates to help him with his research at a recent conference of industry scientists. Nick explains Hall’s research, and why it’s an uphill battle.
capitol hill
When a vote count is both strong and weak
The BIOSECURE Act was passed with a strong bipartisan vote on Monday, but support for it was weaker than expected, my colleague John Wilkerson reports.
Under most circumstances, the 306-81 vote would be a stunner, but in this case it showed that a significant number of lawmakers were willing to vote against a bill that is touted as a national security measure against China. All but two of those no votes were from Democrats. The two Republican no votes came from Rep. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Paul Gosar (Ariz.).
Stephen Rademaker, a member of Covington & Burling’s public policy group, described Monday’s vote as “negative but not fatal” to the bill’s prospects. Nielsen Hobbs, an analyst at Citeline, said the vote might make it easier for Senate Democrats to make changes to the bill.
When the bill was marked up by Senate and House committees, just one member on each panel voted against it.