617: Social Media Oversight, Spending Deadline Concerns

ROBERT JOHNSON:   

This is the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Friday, March 8, 2024. I'm Robert Johnson. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. 

MATTHEW BIEL:   

The business models of these companies rest upon driving traffic, driving attention, controlling the attention of young people. And they're being very successful at it. 

JOHNSON:   

Georgetown University Medical Center Professor, Dr. Matthew Biel, is worried about the impact of social media on young people. He says parents cannot be expected to take on addictive online platforms by themselves. 

BIEL:   

So, I think we need our public officials to introduce restrictions, like age restrictions, like content restrictions, like more vigorous content monitoring. 

JOHNSON:   

Biel also wants communities to agree on the best age for giving kids a mobile device. 

BIEL:   

Really, 16 I think is the age that many of my clinician colleagues and I think is reasonable age if you're thinking about giving kids access to social media, and that's based on data about ages of vulnerability to some of the more inflammatory content that comes onto these platforms. 

JOHNSON:   

And Biel's bottom line.  

BIEL:   

So, there are things that all of us can do. But I think we have to get out of the mindset that this is a problem that each family has to solve on their own. 

JOHNSON:   

The federal budget continues to be the focus of work on Capitol Hill, ASTHO's Carolyn Mullen provides this update on spending deadlines and the President's upcoming proposal, in her latest view from Washington, D.C. report. Carolyn Mullen, how's it going today? 

CAROLYN MULLEN:   

It's going really well, the birds are chirping and flowers are blooming. So, Happy Spring. 

JOHNSON:   

It's also Friday. We can't argue with that.  

MULLEN:   

Definitely not.  

JOHNSON:   

You've had a couple of busy weeks and some real progress on funding is one of the highlights. Can you tell us where we are right now with that? 

MULLEN:   

Finally, our long awaited budget resolution has happened, or partially happened, this week, the House voted over 300 positive votes for funding WIC, FDA, EPA and other important programs. One of our members top priorities was full funding for the WIC program. And this legislation actually provided that so it was a real win for public health officials. We were up on the Hill last week advocating for that. And then to see this bill come to fruition was excellent. So, we expect it to be signed into law any day now. And then the next step will be what's going to happen in the next couple of weeks funding for HHS. 

JOHNSON:   

That deadline is March 22. What do you think there? Do you think Congress will get that done?  

MULLEN:   

According to media reports, things aren't looking great on that legislation. And one of the reasons why it's one of the most controversial pieces of bills that Congress will consider. As a reminder to our listeners, it funds CDC, NIH HERSA, SAMSA, all of the public health agencies but what's really contentious about this bill is A. the funding levels, some members of Congress want to cut funding and B. policy writers. So, sometimes Congress tries to legislate on appropriations bills. The Democrats are trying to keep the legislation clean, so it doesn't tank the legislation. But just really unclear if we're going to be able to get bipartisan agreement on this bill. If we don't there will be a partial government shutdown after March 22, which would have a devastating impact on public health agencies and our members work and the communities they serve. 

JOHNSON:   

And the budget is going to come out next week, the President will release that, it'll happen amidst all of this other back and forth on spending. What do you think will be the outlook for public health in that recommendation? 

MULLEN:   

Right, so the pieces of bills that we're talking about right now are fiscal year 2024. So, the reason why we're talking about that is because Congress couldn't get their act together and they're trying to fund the current fiscal year. The President's budget coming out on Tuesday next week is about fiscal year 2025. And it really kicks off our advocacy efforts. The President's budget is just a proposal. Congress has the authority to accept, reject, or modify it. We're expecting things to be pretty even keeled in the President's budget. We're not expecting anything really new or outrageous. We are in a presidential election year. We'll have to comb through all the documents about 1000 page documents. So, we'll be taking our time going through it and identifying any potential bipartisan initiatives that ASTHO can get behind. And then after that, Congress will start working on fiscal year 2025 appropriations, and that Fiscal Year will start on October 1st. 

JOHNSON: 

And eventually as you go through that, I'd imagine you'll report to the membership, what you find and what they ought to know. 

MULLEN:   

Exactly, we'll go through it and we'll issue a legislative alert. So, for our listeners, just keep your eye on your email. We'll send that out as soon as we can. But it does take a little bit of time to go through all that document.  

JOHNSON:   

And of course, listen right here on Fridays, because when you've done that evaluation, you'll come back here and tell us all about it. Right?  

MULLEN:   

Exactly. Happy to do that.  

JOHNSON:   

Some light reading coming up for you. We'll all be thinking about you while you do that. 

MULLEN:   

Thanks so much, myself and the team.  

JOHNSON:   

Have a great weekend.  

MULLEN:   

Thanks, Robert. 

JOHNSON:   

Also today, ASTHO has new policy statements on adverse childhood experiences and public health infrastructure. They were approved by the ASTHO board of directors at last week's 2024 spring meeting, you can read ASTHO's policy statements using the link in the show notes.  

Finally, this morning, harm reduction laws are mapped in a webpage developed by ASTHO's Public Health Legal Mapping Center, you can click on any ASTHO member jurisdiction to see a summary of overdose policy actions currently in place. There's a link to the webpage in the show notes.  

Before we go a reminder also to follow this newscast on your podcast player and connect with ASTHO on social media. We are on LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook.  

That'll do it for today. We're back Monday morning with more ASTHO news and information. I'm Robert Johnson. You're listening to the award-winning Public Health Review Morning Edition. Have a great weekend.