Public Citizen Access to Medicines Director Peter Maybarduk issued the following statement: 

“Trump has dressed up yet another corporate giveaway as a boon to patients. Most patients will do better through their insurance than through TrumpRx. Many patients without insurance will not be able to afford drugmakers’ still-high prices funneled through TrumpRx.

“But drugmakers certainly will appreciate TrumpRx’s free promotion of their products, delivered with a false veneer of price accountability. TrumpRx is designed to help Big Pharma keep its prices high by diluting the bargaining power of insurance companies, weakening an important check on pharma.

“TrumpRx also appears to be another example of this President’s repeated corruption. Trump’s son Donald Trump Jr. sits on the board of BlinkRx, a key business that may benefit financially from TrumpRx. Getting serious about medicine affordability means getting serious about challenging Big Pharma. For all Trump’s talk, Big Pharma is getting a lot of special favors from this White House, while patients still are waiting.

“Real drug price reform doesn’t look like a website.”

The post TrumpRx Lets Big Pharma Off the Hook appeared first on Public Citizen.

“Trump’s call for a $500 billion increase in Pentagon spending is a terrible idea that would starve the American people of resources needed to address critical issues across the U.S. American voters are fed up with inflation, health care costs, housing prices, and unemployment. But instead of addressing these needs, Rep. Mike Rogers wants to burn half a trillion tax dollars on militarism and war. Congress must reject this attempt to put an already wasteful Pentagon on steroids.

“The Pentagon has repeatedly failed audits and has wasted hundreds of billions of dollars on fraudulent defense contractors who abuse the system and steal from taxpayers. Trump has added to this wasteful legacy by spending vast sums of money on national guard deployments across the U.S., military intervention in Venezuela, and by pushing a ‘Golden Dome’ boondoggle. Congress must stop pouring more money into a trillion-dollar Pentagon budget beset with fraud and waste, at the expense of priority human needs.”

The post House Republican Proposal for Half-Trillion-Dollar Pentagon Bump a Grave Threat appeared first on Public Citizen.

The report, MAHA, Means, Money: MAHA’s influence in US health care means big money for Big Wellness, reveals how MAHA influencers exploit vulnerabilities in the American healthcare system by hawking unproven medical treatments and unregulated health supplements while fomenting distrust towards accredited healthcare providers.

Alongside the report, Public Citizen submitted a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) calling for an investigation into whether Dr. Casey Means, the current nominee for Surgeon General, has violated FTC policy on influencer marketing, citing multiple examples of undisclosed product advertisements.

“MAHA influencers’ messaging strikes a chord with many Americans because they accurately identify that much of the US health care system is beholden to corporate interests like Big Pharma and the insurance industry,” said Eileen O’Grady, a researcher in Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division. “But rather than fighting to lower drug prices, ensure safety for patients, or build a more equitable health system for all, they sell consumers their own version of the grift: excessive testing, unproven and underregulated health supplements, and assurances that only their products hold the key to better health. While MAHA influencers reap the benefits of lucrative sponsorship contracts and, in some cases, political appointments, regular Americans are once again being cheated.”

Key findings of the report include:

• While MAHA wellness influencers lambast conventional medicine, they have amassed their own wellness empires built on selling products and ideas based on distorted views of public health.
• Surgeon General nominee Dr. Casey Means has substantial conflicts of interest that may jeopardize her ability to serve the role effectively. Dr. Means’ metabolic testing company may have already benefitted from Secretary Kennedy’s promotion of wearable health tracking devices.
• Dr. Means has also potentially violated FTC rules on influencer marketing by failing to adequately disclose sponsorship relationships in dozens of web and social media posts promoting wellness products. In total, she failed to disclose her relationship 79 out of 140 (56%) times she promoted products from companies with which she has financial relationships.
• HHS senior advisor Calley Means, who has repeatedly used his platforms to promote dangerous and false health information, founded the company TrueMed which relies on a legally dubious business model.
• Leading MAHA figure Mark Hyman, who has close financial and personal ties to Kennedy, Mehmet Oz, and the Means siblings, oversees a wellness empire that stands to benefit significantly from HHS policies under Kennedy.

The post New Report Exposes MAHA’s Corrupting Influence in HHS and Beyond appeared first on Public Citizen.

Global Trade Watch director Melinda St. Louis issued the following statement:

“In the wake of Trump’s shocking Greenland gambit and his imperialist minerals deals with Ukraine and the Democratic Republic of Congo, other countries and the U.S. public should be very wary of any ‘arrangement,’ ‘deal,’ ‘agreement,’ or ‘action plan’ related to critical minerals – especially ones like these that emerge without any transparency or public consultation.

“Civil society organizations with strong ties to vulnerable communities in resource-rich regions have made clear recommendations for what should and should not be in any critical minerals-related deals in order to ensure accountability in the notoriously dangerous and dirty mining and processing minerals supply chain. Members of Congress have demanded transparency, but have been ignored.

“Like so many of Trump’s announcements of ‘deals,’ it’s unclear what, if any, real-world impact these deals will have. But Congress should exercise its constitutional authority over trade and demand a transparent and participatory process, meaningful labor, environmental and human rights standards, and a vote on any final deals.”

Background:

Public Citizen joined 35 civil society, environmental, faith, and human rights organizations in calling on the Trump administration to halt any ongoing negotiations on critical minerals agreements until the process is opened to public input and affected communities are meaningfully consulted.

In the letter, the groups warn that reports of new minerals-related deals being pursued with countries around the world — including last week’s “strategic partnership agreement” related to rare earth minerals between the United States and the Democratic Republic of Congo — raise serious concerns about transparency, human rights, worker and environmental exploitation, and sovereignty.

The groups urge the administration to commit to

• Strong, binding labor, environmental, human, and indigenous rights standards with swift and certain enforcement;
• Policies that advance sustainable development, job creation, and minerals circularity in both the U.S and partner countries; and
• A transparent process with full congressional review and approval, as required by law.

Together, the groups also reject “minerals-for-security” agreements or deals that prioritize military interests or investor profits over human rights and a just clean energy transition; and pledge to “vigorously oppose” any minerals deal that does not meet these standards.

Quotes from signatory organizations:

“It is vital that local and Indigenous communities be informed and afforded the opportunity to provide input and participate in any agreements that affect their land and the mineral resources beneath their feet.” — Maurice Carney, Co-founder and Executive Director, Friends of the Congo

“For any mineral deal, respect for human rights, Indigenous Peoples, environmental and labor standards must lead the way. Congress should advise and consent only to mineral agreements that uphold these values, promote mineral circularity, and reject colonizing another country’s resource.” — Aaron Mintzes, Deputy Policy Director and Counsel, Earthworks

“It is unacceptable for Trump to use tariff threats to bully countries into secretive deals to exploit their mineral resources with no regard for the communities who bear the burden of dangerous and dirty extraction.” — Melinda St. Louis, Global Trade Watch Director, Public Citizen

Additional resources:

• Trump’s U.S.-Malaysia Deal: Cementing Extractivist Colonialism
• Trade and Critical Minerals: The Deadly Cost of Cobalt Mining in the Congo
• Sánchez and 50+ Reps Call for Transparency in Congo Critical Minerals Agreement

The post Critical Minerals Ministerial and “Action Plans” Raise Human Rights, Environmental Questions appeared first on Public Citizen.

Comments submitted today from NRDC (Natural Resources Defense Council), the Sierra Club, Environmental Defense Fund, Center for Biological Diversity, Public Citizen, Conservation Law Foundation, and the Environmental Law & Policy Center laid out the legal and technical flaws with NHTSA’s plan and explained why gutting fuel-economy standards would be harmful for Americans’ wallets and health. 

The proposal would weaken existing Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards by lowering the expected fleetwide average to just 34.5 miles per gallon by 2031, which is below what the vehicle fleet has already achieved. NHTSA predicts that its proposal would force the average driver to pay $1,400 more in fuel costs over the lifetime of their vehicle, with the additional fuel costs outweighing the claimed savings in upfront vehicle purchase prices by hundreds of dollars. This action would not only make cars less affordable for the average American, but also drive the country backwards by making vehicle fleets less efficient.  

NHTSA’s proposed standards, “would hurt American families by forcing them to spend more money at the gas pump and by worsening air pollution across the country,” the groups say in their comments. 

QUOTES: 

“This rollback goes so much further than even what was tried in the first Trump administration,” said Kathy Harris, director of the clean vehicles program at NRDC. “If this rule gets finalized, it will deliver a harsh blow to American families struggling to keep up with rising prices. It would raise drivers’ costs at the pump while worsening air pollution across the country.” 

“Everything about this proposal threatens the well-being of Americans,” said Sierra Club Senior Attorney Josh Berman. “Families are already grappling with rising heating bills, medical expenses, and grocery prices — and with this proposal, our cars will become less efficient and more expensive to drive. To make matters worse, less efficient cars will increase air pollution, worsening our air quality and multiplying our health care costs. We urge the Department of Transportation to leave these common-sense fuel economy standards alone.” 

“The Trump administration is rewarding oil companies and punishing consumers with their weak standards,” said David Pettit, an attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity’s Climate Law Institute. “Following the law would save people money and clean the air we breathe. That’s not a heavy lift with today’s technology. But the Trump administration is choosing to put corporate profits for its big campaign donors first. Drivers will pay the price to use more gas and pollute more, while Big Oil profits.”  

“Fuel economy standards should be designed to deliver fuel efficient cars, saving consumers money and reducing toxic pollution that harms public health,” said Adina Rosenbaum, an attorney at Public Citizen Litigation Group. “The Trump administration’s proposal is bad for consumers and rolls back decades of progress toward cleaner cars and cleaner air.” 

“Weakening the CAFE standards will add more pollution to the air we breathe, put us all at greater risk for serious health problems, and saddle American families with higher gas bills for years to come,” said Andy Su, attorney, Environmental Defense Fund. “No one in America is hoping to spend more at the gas pump. People want cars that are safe and save money – and this proposal drives us in the wrong direction.” 

Comments are due today on the proposed rule. 

 # # #

The post NHTSA Urged to Maintain Fuel Economy Standards appeared first on Public Citizen.

The lawsuit targets a program set up in response to a Sept. 19, 2025 Executive Order that makes individuals eligible for EB-1 and EB-2 immigrant visas based solely on payments of at least $1 million by individuals or $2 million by corporations, and disregards whether they meet Congress’s merit-based requirements. Administered by the Departments of Homeland Security, State, and Commerce, the program illegally converts employment-based visa categories designed to bring the best and brightest to the U.S. into a payment-based fast lane, the complaint explains.

By diverting limited visa numbers and agency resources to those who can pay for expedited treatment, the program threatens to lengthen wait times and deny opportunities to qualified professionals waiting in line. The lawsuit asks the court to declare the Gold Card program unlawful and to halt its implementation.

“The Gold Card, which privileges wealthy immigrants over others, is part of a larger attack on immigrants, research, and higher education,” said Todd Wolfson, AAUP President. “This unlawful program directly harms our members and the public. We stand firmly against it.”

“Congress created a clear, merit-based framework for employment-based immigration, with strict limits on who qualifies and how visas are allocated,” said Sarah Wilson, Partner and Federal Litigation Practice Leader at Colombo & Hurd. “The Gold Card program attempts to bypass that system by treating wealth as a substitute for statutory eligibility and, in doing so, it harms the scientists, researchers, and professionals who have played by the rules and waited their turn. When visas are capped and backlogged, creating a paid fast lane inevitably pushes qualified people further back.”

“Forget ‘give us your tired, your poor, your huddled masses.’ Donald Trump’s maxim is give us your money, your oligarchs and your privileged few when it comes to his Gold Card program that is illegal. Once again, the President is overstepping his authority and attempting to reshape our country to serve the wealthy rather than the people,” said Amb. Norm Eisen (ret.), Co-Founder and Executive Chair of the Democracy Defenders Fund. “America was built on the promise of opportunity and merit, not on who can write the biggest check. This administration is trying to turn our immigration system into a playground for the highest bidder and push aside the scientists, engineers, innovators, and others who can improve and enrich all our lives.”

“This case concerns yet another of the many instances in which this administration is defying federal statutes to advance short-term policy preferences,” said Allison Zieve, director of Public Citizen Litigation Group. “It also concerns yet another of the many instances in which this administration is defying the Constitution, under which no administration—and no president—is above the law.”

The lawsuit was filed on behalf of the American Association of University Professors; Rodrigo Cerna-Chavez; William Daniel Moscoso-Barrera; Yu-Ting Tsai; Aldo S. Estrada-Montaño; Ma. Elena Hernández Cepeda; and Richmond Djorgbenoo, by Democracy Defenders Fund, Colombo & Hurd, and Public Citizen Litigation Group.

Read the complaint by clicking here.

The post AAUP and Immigrant Professionals File Lawsuit Challenging Trump Administration’s Gold Card Visa Program as an Unlawful Pay-to-Play Scheme appeared first on Public Citizen.

“Trump’s new critical mineral stockpile program will enrich and empower mining companies. By establishing the project without legislation, Trump again eschews congressional oversight and public accountability. Without adequate safeguards and standards, Project Vault will subsidize and accelerate the well documented human rights abuses and environmental destruction that has defined many critical mineral projects around the world.”

Further reading: Critical Conflicts: Trump Subsidizes Dirty Mining at the Expense of Public Lands

# # #

The post Trump’s $12 Billion “Project Vault” Project is a Handout to Mining Industry appeared first on Public Citizen.

Earlier letters in August and October of 2025 similarly warned OMB against federal deployment of the AI technology and called for suspension of its use. Earlier this month, Grok was embroiled in scandal after flooding Musk’s X with “nudified” and other sexualized images of women and girls, which has led to the launch of an investigation by the European Commission.

“AI experts and consumer groups have been sounding the alarm on Grok’s mounting safety concerns, citing it as unstable. Allowing Grok into the federal government was reckless and now that it has access to classified documents, the situation is infinitely more dire,” said J.B. Branch, Big Tech accountability advocate at Public Citizen. “The next Grok failure might not involve nudified images of women, it could compromise national security.”

In addition to immediately suspending the federal deployment of Grok, the letter demands the following actions be taken:

• Initiate a formal investigation into Grok’s safety failures and the procurement and oversight processes that permitted its federal deployment, including whether required risk assessments, mitigation measures, and compliance determinations were conducted and appropriately reviewed.
• Publicly clarify whether Grok has been evaluated for compliance with Executive Order 14319’s truth-seeking and neutrality requirements and whether it was determined to meet OMB’s risk mitigation standards.
• Require disclosure of all safety testing, red-teaming results, and risk assessments conducted on Grok as a condition of any continued consideration for federal use.
• Account for the legal basis on which Grok remains available to federal agencies despite documented violations of OMB’s binding guidance.

The full letter is available to view on the Public Citizen website. For more information, or to speak with an expert, contact eleach@citizen.org. 

The post New Letter Warns Next Grok ‘Mistake’ Could Be Leaked National Security Files appeared first on Public Citizen.

“There’s no precedent for this in American history. This deal contravenes the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, the most basic ethics standards and plain common sense. It fundamentally and unavoidably compromises U.S. foreign policy, raising the question of whether Trump is conducting foreign policy to advance American interests or his own bottom line.

“The White House says the deal poses no conflict of interest for the president. The administration is making a regular practice of asking the American public not to see what is right before their eyes. The American people aren’t having it.

“And, if the administration actually believed there was no conflict, why was the deal kept secret?

“Among other matters involving the UAE, the Trump administration has approved the sale of advanced AI chips to the country, despite fears from national security officials that the technology may be diverted to China. Perhaps the administration would have reached the same decision authorizing the chip sale in the absence of the president’s business arrangement, but we’ll never know – precisely why business deals like this should not exist.”

The post Trump’s ‘Jaw-dropping’ Conflict of Interest with the UAE Defies Common Sense appeared first on Public Citizen.

In response, Melinda St Louis, Global Trade Watch Director at Public Citizen, issued the following statement:

Today’s WTO ruling puts into sharp relief that the existing rules of the global economy are not fit for purpose to address the urgent crises facing our world — from catastrophic climate change to growing authoritarianism.

First, it highlights just how out of step WTO rules are with the imperative to enact bold industrial policies around the world needed to hasten the clean energy transition to avoid climate catastrophe. While imperfect, the IRA was the most comprehensive climate legislation ever enacted in the United States, and it was no secret that requirements to use U.S. tax dollar incentives to boost domestic manufacturing of these technologies were necessary to get the political support to pass the legislation.

The WTO’s rules were written in the 1990s, with outsized influence by large corporations in the Global North, before governments were taking climate change seriously. Since the beginning, civil society organizations and developing countries have criticized the WTO’s unfair rules that privilege corporate interests over sustainable development, human rights, and public interest goals. This ruling against the IRA sends a message to other countries around the world that the WTO’s corporate-dominated rules will prevail over attempts they may make to address climate change.

Second, ironically, today’s ruling hands a win to Donald Trump’s goal of undermining multilateral climate action globally. Trump, with congressional Republicans, are actively undermining all efforts to address catastrophic climate change in the United States and around the world — repealing historic investments in clean energy, withdrawing from all multilateral efforts to address climate change, invading countries explicitly to extract their oil, forcing countries to import more U.S. fossil fuels, and more. In the name of multilateralism, the WTO ruling against Biden-era clean energy tax credits bolsters Trump’s anti-climate crusade.

In practice, this ruling is largely symbolic. Because U.S. Presidents dating back to Barack Obama have blocked the appointment of appellate body adjudicators, the WTO dispute settlement system is defunct and unable to enforce its rulings. Additionally, the decision does not touch on the most high-profile issue in the original complaint from China, the IRA’s electric vehicle tax credits, because Trump and congressional Republicans eliminated them in the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill.”

Third, the ruling provides further evidence that if a multi-lateral rules-based order is to prevail, the rules must change. Public Citizen recently joined more than 100 organizations from around the world — including International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC), Public Services International (PSI), and Friends of the Earth International — in urging world leaders to resist both Trump’s imperialism and traditional neoliberalism as we seek to build a more just global economy.

Prominent labor, environmental, and consumer groups have urged world leaders to, at a minimum, commit not to use trade rules to challenge other countries’ climate policies. Such a Climate Peace Clause would temporarily halt cases like the one decided today so that countries can prioritize the green transition and revise the WTO rules currently creating unnecessary hurdles.

For more information:

• Labor and Environmental Groups Urge U.S. Officials to Reject WTO Attack against the IRA, Sept. 2024
• China’s Attack on U.S. Inflation Reduction Act Shows Need for Reform of WTO Rules to Remove Barriers to Climate Action, May 2024
• 190+ State Legislators From All 50 States Call for Climate Peace Clause, March 2023
• Machinists, UAW, USW, Sierra Club and Public Citizen call for IRA to be implemented as intended despite EU threats of trade challenge, Jan. 2023
• 150+ Environmental Groups Urge Inclusion of ‘Climate Peace Clause’ in Trade Agreements, May 2022
• WTO General Exceptions: Trade Law’s Faulty Ivory Tower

The post WTO Ruling Against Biden-Era Clean Energy Policies Undermines Climate Action and the Multilateral System appeared first on Public Citizen.