Experts say ‘everything is basically in chaos’ and warn of disruption to sectors such as health, infrastructure and tax. The wheels of the US government have ground to a halt in parts under a hail of new orders from Donald Trump that have left vital services paralysed and raised alarm about damaging disruption to key sectors such as health, roads and tax collection.
Meetings on cancer research to discuss federal funding and reports on how to fight bird flu were cancelled after the incoming administration placed a halt on all external communication at the health department. The cancellations were reportedly instituted partly to ensure that communications complied with the returning president’s executive order decreeing that his administration would recognise only two genders, according to the Wall Street Journal.
One key aim was reportedly to expunge references to “pregnant people” rather than pregnant women, an example of inclusive terminology that has become widespread in the health sector in recent years, to the consternation of rightwing critics who have railed against diversity, equity and inclusiveness (DEI) initiatives.
Veterans of Washington’s sprawling bureaucracy said that while some pauses were common to all changes of administrations, the disruption engendered by Trump’s is unprecedented. The communication shutdown extended to meetings to review potential grants for the National Institutes for Health (NIH) – considered the lifeblood of American medical science – and to consider updated data for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
