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Short Wave

Are DOGE Cuts Making America Healthy?

30 Apr 2025

Description

In its first 100 days, the Trump administration — specifically, the Department of Government Efficiency — shuttered agencies and slashed budgets pertaining to foreign aid, scientific research, food safety and more. How will this impact people's health and well-being both in the U.S., and around the world? To answer that question, we're calling in our colleagues: global health correspondent Gabrielle Emmanuel and health policy reporter Selena Simmons-Duffin.(P.S. If you liked this episode, check out the breakdown of health and science policy changes we did after Trump's first 50 days — with different NPR reporters — here.)Want to hear more about how policy changes affect scientific research and discovery? Let us know by emailing [email protected] to every episode of Short Wave sponsor-free and support our work at NPR by signing up for Short Wave+ at plus.npr.org/shortwave.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

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0.137 - 18.848 Advertisement/Promo

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20.249 - 32.915 Emily Kwong

You're listening to Shortwave from NPR. President Trump's first 100 days in office have been defined, among many other things, by DOGE, the Department of Government Efficiency.

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33.315 - 51.91 Narrator/Announcer

The ad hoc Department of Government Efficiency team is one of the defining initiatives of President Trump's term so far. The Trump administration has posted a new online tracker that describes what it says are the dollars saved by the Department of Government Efficiency. The Department of Government Efficiency has made it a priority to gain access to computer networks across the federal government.

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52.27 - 71.17 Emily Kwong

At the direction of Elon Musk, the department has fired tens of thousands of federal employees, dismantled whole parts of different federal agencies, and made deep cuts to spending on foreign aid and scientific research. And it's hard to know which of these changes are temporary and which will ripple for years, even decades to come.

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71.75 - 88.477 Emily Kwong

Because many of Doge's initiatives have been reversed or delayed by the courts or because of public backlash. That's as Musk's 130-day term as a special government employee is winding down. So we on Shortwave wanted to look around and ask, what could this all mean to science in the long term?

90.014 - 103.095 Emily Kwong

Today, with two of my colleagues on NPR's science desk, we're going to recap the first 100 days of health and science under the current Trump administration. I'm Emily Kwong, and you're listening to Shortwave, the science podcast from NPR.

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151.226 - 171.674 Scott Detrow

You want to follow what's happening in Washington, D.C., but you don't want to be scrolling your phone all day. I'm Scott Detrow, and NPR has a podcast that can help. It's called Trump's Terms. Stories about big changes the 47th president is pursuing on his own terms. They're short, they're focused episodes that tell you calmly, factually, what is happening and what isn't.

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