Politics

Congress Was Busy Yesterday 

What's going on: Congressional committees had their hands full with Fed chair nominee Kevin Warsh and Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Here’s what went down...

The Fed files: At Warsh’s hearing, many senators had the same question: Would he be a “sock puppet” for President Donald Trump? Lawmakers have speculated about whether he’ll keep the Federal Reserve neutral or slash interest rates to bolster Trump’s agenda. The Wall Street financier doubled down, saying he’ll be “strictly independent” if confirmed. He told the senators he wants to keep money and politics separate (because that famously works). But some of his comments veered political, like declining to say that former President Joe Biden won the 2020 election. He also called for a “regime change” at the central bank, where he once served. Though Trump thinks Warsh already looks the part, analysts don’t expect him to be confirmed before Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s term ends on May 15. 

Public health tab: The hearings with RFK Jr. turned out to be much more heated than the bro-to-bro chats on his new podcast. Lawmakers grilled him on his budget request for the next fiscal year, vaccines, Medicaid cuts, and vaping. While he vowed to throw an extra $1 billion to vaccine research, he wouldn’t commit to supporting the new CDC director’s future immunization recommendations. RFK Jr. also defended his response to the measles outbreaks. When it comes to women’s health, he sidestepped questions about cuts to Title X reproductive health funding — but said women have a right to birth control. He also announced plans for food labels that indicate “healthiness” with a stoplight-color system, similar to what Chile does. Rep. Raul Ruiz (D-CA) looked firmly in the red.

Related: RFK Jr. Is Posting About His Diet Like an Influencer (NYT Gift Link)

Work

Another One Bites the (Benefits) Dust

What’s going on: They took our gym memberships, our ping pong tables, and our fancy snacks (seriously, what are we supposed to do with this lowly oatmeal?). Now, some big companies are coming for a major benefit: paid leave. According to Business Insider, Zoom already cut parental leave this year by four weeks for birthing parents and by six weeks for non-birthing parents. Deloitte plans to follow, with cuts to leave (and other benefits) for certain employees starting in January. Because the job market isn’t tipped toward job seekers right now, companies can push their luck — and are they ever. Sound familiar? Cue Taylor Swift and Bon Iver, then roll the in memoriam for DEI initiatives and work-from-home options. As one expert put it, today’s “outliers” have a funny way of becoming tomorrow’s standard.

Tell me more: Paid leave — whether it’s parental, vacation, or disability — isn’t just a “nice to have.” It’s one of the most valued benefits, according to a 2026 MetLife survey of more than 2,500 full-time workers. It lets you keep your job when a baby arrives, or a parent needs you (because “just take unpaid time” isn’t exactly a real option). So when companies scale it back, it’s not just a quiet policy change; it shifts what you can actually do. Especially for women who’ve relied on paid leave to stay in the workforce while caregiving. Some employers say it beats layoffs. Sure, but that just means you’re the one absorbing the trade-off: less time, less flexibility, and fewer real options. And they wonder why working parents are at their wits’ end.

Related: A $100 Million Employee Problem Is Brewing at Starbucks (Bloomberg Gift Link) 

Apple

First Steve, Then Tim, and Now John

What’s going on: The only name more synonymous with Apple than Steve Jobs is Tim Cook. But after 15 years at the helm, the CEO is ready to pass the torch. Earlier this week, in the tech world’s version of a papal reveal, Apple shared that Cook will step down in September to make way for a new CEO: mechanical engineer John Ternus. And he has some big shoes to fill. Mentored by Jobs, Cook raised the (Genius) bar. He leveraged the iPhone’s success to quadruple the company’s annual profit. And he casually led Apple to become the first publicly traded company valued at $1 trillion (it’s now worth $4 trillion). As for what’s next, Cook will still be a part of Apple’s bushel as executive chairman on the board of directors (similar to what Amazon’s Jeff Bezos did). 

Is John up for the job?: While Jobs was a big-picture kind of guy and Cook perfected the operations, Ternus is an engineer by trade (who helped develop the iPhone and iPad). You couldn’t tell it from his very bare LinkedIn profile, but Ternus knows his way around after 25 years with Apple, and he now has more on his plate than cracked screens. The tech giant is playing catch-up in the AI race, with Siri set to get its first major AI upgrade later this year. There’s also the tiny task of figuring out what Apple’s next breakout product will be. The Apple Vision Pro only went so far. Ternus will also have to master presidential diplomacy, as Cook did, to try and stay on Trump’s good side (it might take another 24K gold gift).

Related: Reese Witherspoon Shared Her Thoughts on AI, and People Are Mad (USA Today)