The House of Representatives has returned from its five-week summer vacation, but for more than three dozen members that extended break apparently wasn’t enough.
According to the House clerk, 46 lawmakers failed to make it back to Washington in time for the first roll-call vote on Monday. The 6:56 p.m. event recorded the names of the missing members, which included 22 Republicans, 23 Democrats, and one independent. No lawmakers voted “present” on the bill, which aimed to establish national standards for the Justice Department to assess and respond to reports of sexual abuse by incarcerated people against prison staff.
Some of the missing lawmakers managed to make it to the lower chamber within the next 15 minutes, however, where a second roll-call vote took place at 7:10 p.m. At that point, 42 members (21 Republicans and 21 Democrats) were still missing in action, according to the clerk’s office.
The names of the representatives who still failed to arrive in time for the second vote Monday evening are listed below.
A federal judge lit into the Department of Health and Human Services, headed by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., for using either AI or fake studies to defend the Trump administration’s decision to fund only abstinence-based teen pregnancy prevention programs.
“While abstinence-only education may well be appropriate for some age groups or communities, the agency has offered no explanation or evidence to support its across-the-board mandate that only abstinence strategies be pursued,” U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper wrote in his opinion. “On the topic of body literacy, the notices (remarkably) reference public health studies that appear either not to exist or not to support the propositions for which they are cited—a hallmark of AI-generated citations.”
Cooper issued a preliminary injunction, pausing an order that has already led to millions of dollars in grant cuts.
“The Court concludes that the Plaintiffs’ likelihood of success on their arbitrary and capricious claim, combined with the severity and irremediable harm to their programming and the balance of equities in their favor, justify the issuance of a preliminary injunction in this case,” he wrote.
This isn’t the first time the Trump administration—and HHS—have used AI to generate references or content. Last year, the department’s “Make America Healthy Again” report contained references to articles that didn’t exist and multiple citation errors.
The HHS is likely using fake AI slop to justify and defend bad MAHA policies that have real material impacts on the lives of everyday Americans, and could have alarming effects on public health.
President Trump on Tuesday announced that Pastor Darrell Scott, his personal friend and impassioned defender, will join the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as an adviser on tobacco-related health issues.
“For far too long, tobacco-related disease has taken an enormous toll on American families, including Communities that have too often been overlooked and underserved. Pastor Scott understands these communities, and the challenges they face, and he knows how to bring people together to get RESULTS,” the president wrote on Truth Social. “Delivering on a Campaign promise, his work will help ensure that we take a serious look at how we can better protect Americans from dangerous tobacco products, while supporting solutions to reduce harm and SAVE LIVES.”
In Scott’s own telling, he met Trump in 2011 at Trump Tower, where he expected to find a sleazy real estate tycoon and instead found a devout Christian ready to do the work for Black Americans. He was involved in Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign, introducing then-candidate Trump at rallies and Christian gatherings, and he co-founded the National Diversity Coalition for Trump, alongside the president’s former attorney turned bitter enemy turned podcast pal, Michael Cohen. After the president defeated Hillary Clinton, Scott was given a role on his presidential transition team. In 2018, Scott called Trump “the most pro-Black president in my lifetime.”
“Pastor Darrell Scott has been with us from the very beginning. He is a GREAT LEADER with a tremendous heart for the people of our Country. Thank you Pastor Scott. MAKE AMERICA HEALTHY AND SAFE AGAIN! President DONALD J. TRUMP,” the president concluded in his announcement.
Although Scott supposedly “understands these communities” impacted by tobacco-related illness, the pastor has zero experience in public health or tobacco policy. His appointment at the CDC is further proof that loyalty, not expertise, is the real qualification for a job in Trump’s administration. That roster includes a former Fox News host running the Department of Defense, a vaccine skeptic in charge of the nation’s health agencies now contributing to the return of measles, and a real estate developer son-in-law tanking negotiations with Iran.
