If any Republican thought the war ended on November 5th, they are in for a rude awakening. It’s probably more realistic to say that Donald Trump’s election victory was just the first battle. Now the entrenched bureaucracy will try to protect itself at all costs, and officials at the Department of Health and Human Services are already challenging at work.
According to a recent reportMembers of the Office of Climate Change and Health Equity are shifting their responsibilities to more protected employees and trying to codify their work beyond the pesky reach of elected officials. If that sounds authoritarian, that’s because it is.
Adding to the uncertainty is Trump’s decision to appoint Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an environmental litigator turned vaccine skeptic, to head HHS.
Nevertheless, the department has taken steps to firmly anchor the work of the Climate Office within the agency. It required senior executives – who have the strongest protection from layoffs among career federal employees – to ensure the climate competency of their employees. HHS has now created a climate training module for all employees.
Asked if this will be in the employee handbook in 2025, Balbus said: “It will be there.”
It is profoundly undemocratic to put government agencies above the reproach of voters. But that’s exactly what’s happening here, and these bureaucrats are proud of what they do. That should make everyone incensed. The government is essentially run by entrenched government officials who can apply machinations to ensure that the will of the people is ignored.
That’s why Trump must make dismantling the bureaucratic state his top priority. Nothing else will have a more lasting impact. The Supreme Court’s recent decision to strike down the Chevron doctrine that protected these agencies provides the necessary tools.
SEE: Supreme Court makes monumental ruling honoring Chevron
As for the rationalization with which these officials and their allies operate in the press, they claim that “climate change” is impacting health systems and that their work is worth sacrosanct.
Trump’s victory in the Nov. 5 election came as climate damage to the health care sector mounted, such as when Hurricane Helene flooded Unicoi County Hospital in Tennessee this fall. Embedding climate change into the mindset of the entire health sector has been “slow,” but director John Balbus said his office is making steady progress.
“Health systems recognize that this is a business issue, that it is a financial risk, that it poses a threat to mission and operations, and that this message is just beginning to spread,” said he told reporters on Monday in Baku, Azerbaijan The World Climate Summit COP29. He was at the summit to discuss the government’s efforts to address the health impacts of climate change.
I guess we’ll just call everyone “Climate change” weather event, although hurricanes have existed since time immemorial. It seems like an straightforward way for bureaucrats to gain funding and power when the real answer is to only lend a hand when needed on a case-by-case basis. No government agency will prevent hurricanes or other weather phenomena from occurring.
Still, Trump poses a threat to many of the initiatives that Balbus’ office has touted because of the initiatives they rely on Inflation Reduction Actthat Trump wanted to undo. Biden’s climate law provided critical funding for health and hospital systems to improve their resilience to the impacts of climate change, particularly through direct payments supported by Treasury tax credits, Balbus said.
Notice how vague all the language is and then realize That’s the point. What is meant by “improving their defense” there? Such details are never actually made available because they are simply giveaway programs for special interests funded by already cash-strapped taxpayers.
Whatever improvements in “defense” the health and hospital system makes, they are not necessitated by climate change. This is necessary due to weather events that have always existed and will continue to occur. Why exactly does the already bloated federal government need yet another middleman to devour resources? Congress could easily provide money for generators, for example, if needed. There doesn’t need to be an “Office of Climate Change and Health Equity.”
And of course, the “justice” part of it means what it always means: the government picks winners and losers based on perceived “oppression.” It’s time for this to all stop, but it won’t happen overnight. This will be a protracted war with many pitfalls. I hope Republicans are ready to do this, because with the House expected to flip in 2026, time is already running out.
