960: Animal Disaster Plans, View From Washington

JANSON SILVERS: 

This is the award winning Public Health Review Morning Edition for Friday, August 1, 2025. I'm Janson Silvers. Now, today's news from the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials.

KATHY JORGENSEN: 

Animal problems are people problems, plain and simple. Your people plan will only be as good as your animal plan.

SILVERS: 

The National Alliance of State Animal and Agricultural Emergency Programs, or NASAAEP, is an alliance of state programs that works to respond to disasters involving animals. NASAAEP's Kathy Jorgensen explains the organization's role.

JORGENSEN: 

The primary goal of NASAAEP is to provide communication and networking, to facilitate information sharing and effective planning at the local, state, and federal levels. Increasing awareness of animal issues in disasters ultimately increases the capacity to care for all species during emergencies like radiological incidents.

SILVERS: 

Jorgensen says a lack of animal consideration can place a greater burden on first responders.

JORGENSEN: 

We have seen over and over that ignoring pets in the planning process leads to bigger issues. People will refuse to evacuate, or they may reenter dangerous areas to rescue their pets.

SILVERS: 

NASAAEP developed best practices that can help jurisdictions prepare for things like decontamination, transport and evacuation, mass care and shelter, and more.

JORGENSEN: 

These best practices in animal emergency management not only help inform veterinary or agricultural efforts, but can also help inform health agency emergency planning efforts.

SILVERS: 

To learn more about NASAAEP's work, click on the link in the show notes.

HHS nominations, rescissions, and more: It's been a busy week on Capitol Hill. To catch us up, ASTHO's, senior director for government affairs, Jeffrey Ekoma, joins us for this week's View from Washington, D.C. report.

It's Friday morning, and that means we're lucky enough to be joined by ASTHO's Jeffrey Ekoma. Good morning, Jeffrey, how are you?

JEFFREY EKOMA: 

Good morning. I'm doing well. How are you?

SILVERS: 

I'm doing great, and I'm excited to jump into these questions. So, let's just get right into it. I know that the Senate has been busy considering nominations put forth by the President. Are there any updates on nominations within HHS?

EKOMA: 

Yes, the Senate recently confirmed Dr. Susan Monarez to be the next director of the CDC. She is also the first CDC director ever to be confirmed by the Senate. As part of her confirmation hearing, Dr. Monarez discussed her priorities for CDC, and they include one, restoring public trust, rebuilding credibility, improving data transparency, and ensuring that recommendations from CDC are backed by gold standard science. Second being strengthening public health infrastructure, and she has an interest in working closely with state and territorial health officials on this issue. And third, using evidence-based measures to inform rapid decision-making. Now the Senate HELP Committee also advanced the nomination of Dr. Brian Christine to be the next assistant secretary for health at HHS.

SILVERS: 

And then I know it's been a while since you provided a funding update. Where do things currently stand?

EKOMA: 

Yes, the Senate Appropriations Committee markup of the Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriation Bill was yesterday. We are finalizing a Legislative Alert that delves into the bill and its impact on public health. The House postponed its markup of the LHHS Appropriations Bill until the first week of September. The subcommittee markup is currently scheduled for September 4, and the full committee markup is scheduled for September 9. The possibility of amendments to these bills and the possibility of rescissions will likely impact consideration within respective chambers, as well as bipartisan and bicameral negotiations.

SILVERS: 

And then you mentioned rescissions. Is the White House considering additional rescissions before the end of the fiscal year?

EKOMA: 

It's tricky. As a friendly reminder, Congress approved a rescissions package from the administration that rescinds funding for public media and USAID. The director of the Office of Management and Budget has been open about the possibility of additional requests from the administration to Congress; he has also openly expressed sentiment about the appropriations process being less bipartisan, and the administration exploring options around impounding funds as appropriated by Congress. Now, it's unclear if or when the next package will land on Capitol Hill. There has been some reporting that it may include funding for the Department of Education, but the overall scope is still very unclear. It's something that we'll be tracking very closely.

SILVERS: 

Jeffrey, thank you so much for providing these important updates from the Hill. I hope you have a wonderful weekend.

EKOMA: 

Thank you. You too, and please, please stay cool.

SILVERS: 

Also, a new ASTHO report looks at capacity gaps in the radiation readiness workforce. You can head to the ASTHO website to read and download the report for those findings and learn how to improve emergency response capabilities. We have a link in the show notes.

Finally, in ASTHO member news, Michigan Department of Health and Human Services' chief medical executive, Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, recently was the guest speaker for the Michigan State Medical Society. She updated physicians on public health priorities, including vaccine schedules and resources, opioid use data, firearm safety and public availability of Narcan and birth control. Check out the link in the show notes for more information.

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