The Latest: EPA wants to repeal a landmark environmental finding, jeopardizing climate regulations

In a potential landmark action, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin has privately urged President Donald Trump’s administration to reconsider a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for U.S. action against climate change.

Zeldin called for a rewrite of the agency’s finding that determined planet-warming greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare, according to four people who were briefed on the matter but spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the recommendation is not public. The 2009 finding under the Clean Air Act is the legal underpinning of a host of climate regulations for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources.

Here's the latest:

FDA flu shot meeting is abruptly canceled

A planned meeting of a U.S. Food and Drug Administration committee to recommend the makeup of seasonal flu shots for the 2025-2026 influenza season was abruptly canceled Wednesday.

That’s according to Dr. Paul Offit, a vaccine expert at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee.

If the meeting originally set for March 13 is not rescheduled promptly, it could delay production and distribution of shots to protect Americans against the disease, another official said.

Flu sickens millions and causes between 6,300 and 52,000 deaths each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

“I don’t understand who did this or why it was done,” Offit said in an email.

In the absence of the U.S. panel’s recommendation, officials would turn to the World Health Organization to determine which strains to include in the next season’s shots, he added.

VA halts contract cuts after concerns about health services

The Department of Veterans Affairs has temporarily suspended billions of dollars in planned contract cuts following concerns that the move would hurt critical veterans health services, lawmakers and veterans service organizations said Wednesday.

The pause affects hundreds of VA contracts that Secretary Doug Collins described a day earlier as simply consulting deals whose cancellation would save $2 billion as the Trump administration works to slash costs across the federal government.

A partial list of contracts up for cancellation and reviewed by The Associated Press shows the cuts would have affected everything from cancer care to the ability to assess toxic exposure. It underscores how the administration’s approach to broad spending cuts has immediate and potentially unintended consequences.

“We will not be eliminating any benefits or services to Veterans or VA beneficiaries,” VA press secretary Pete Kasperowicz said in a statement.

▶ Read more about the pause to billions in contract cuts

Trump signs executive order seeking more power for Musk’s government efficiency team

Trump has signed an executive order meant to expand the power and reach of his governmental cost-cutting effort led by Elon Musk.

The lengthy order directs federal agencies to develop new systems for distributing and justifying payments so they could be monitored by Musk’s representatives.

It also limits federal employee travel and freezes most agency credit cards unless they’re used for disaster relief or supervisors create an exception.

The order intends a “transformation” in federal spending on contracts, grants and loans. It says it’s meant to make such transactions “transparent” and that government employees “are accountable to the American public.”

Democratic senator asks FAA for documents on SpaceX deal to make sure it wasn’t due to political favoritism

Sen. Edward Markey, of Massachusetts, asked Wednesday in a letter to the agency overseeing airplane safety whether a deal to install equipment from SpaceX unit Starlink at several air traffic control facilities was part of a competitive bidding process.

The senator also asked whether employees at Musk’s satellite company now deployed to FAA facilities had signed “ethics agreements” making sure they weren’t using their access to reward their employer.

The Associated Press has reported that at least three SpaceX employees have gotten special “ethics waivers” releasing them from normal rules requiring them to recuse themselves from government projects that could help Musk’s company.

“I urge the FAA to be transparent about this agreement and ensure that Musk does not wrongfully steer federal funds to his companies,” Markey wrote.

▶ Read more about the deal

House Democrat urges Trump to rescind order seeking greater control of independent regulators

A top Democrat in the U.S. House is urging Trump to reverse a recent executive order seeking to give the White House direct control of independent federal regulatory agencies such as the Federal Election Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Rep. Joe Morelle from New York, a ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, called Trump’s directive “an unprecedented violation of American rule of law” in the letter sent Wednesday. Morelle said Trump’s order ignores that Congress “specifically designed certain independent regulatory agencies to exist outside of White House control.”

The order signed Feb. 18 by Trump says the change is needed so the federal government can be “truly accountable to the American people.” It argues the president must be able to supervise and control officials who “wield vast executive power.”

Head of EPA privately urges Trump administration to reconsider finding behind US action against climate change

In a potential landmark action, the head of the EPA has privately urged the Trump administration to reconsider a scientific finding that has long been the central basis for U.S. action against climate change.

In a report to the White House, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called for a rewrite of the agency’s finding that greenhouse gases endanger public health and welfare. Four people who were briefed on the matter spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because the recommendation is not public.

The 2009 finding under the Clean Air Act is the legal underpinning of a host of climate regulations for motor vehicles, power plants and other pollution sources.

A spokesperson for the EPA on Wednesday declined to reveal Zeldin’s recommendation, which was made last week under an executive order from Trump.

The Washington Post first reported that Zeldin had urged the White House to strike down the endangerment finding.

▶ Read more about Zeldin’s recommendation

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Associated Press reporter Matthew Daly contributed to this report from Washington.

Musk said USAID funds to fight Ebola are flowing. Agency officials say that’s not true

No U.S. Agency on International Development funds for Ebola response have been released since Trump froze foreign aid Jan. 20, a USAID official said Wednesday.

Musk said during Trump’s first Cabinet meeting that as his team rushes to cut spending, “one of the things we accidentally canceled very briefly was Ebola prevention.”

The administration has yet to approve any release of USAID funds for the current Ebola outbreak in Uganda, the official said.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation after the administration banned employees from commenting publicly.

USAID staffers and partner organizations say all payments have stopped even after a judge temporarily blocked the funding freeze.