here's what you need to know today, july 17 th : today, senator murphy and senator richard blumenthal joined 44 of their democratic senate colleagues in a letter led by u.s. senator patty murray of washington to vice president mike pence and coronavirus task force coordinator dr. deborah birx urging the trump administration to reverse recent changes requiring hospitals to report data to a new system set up by the department of health and human services instead of the longstanding reporting network run by the centers for disease control and prevention (cdc). 