1/ The director of the CDC announced a restructuring of the agency to “transform” it to better respond to public health emergencies. CDC Director Rochelle Walensky said the agency had failed to effectively respond to the coronavirus pandemic, saying “in our big moment, our performance did not reliably meet expectations.” Walensky’s plan calls for less emphasis on the publication of scientific papers about rare diseases and more focus on efforts that prioritize public health needs by more rapidly turning research into health recommendations. The restructuring follows two reviews conducted in recent months into the CDC’s pandemic response and operations. (New York Times / Washington Post / NBC News / Politico / Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg)

Monkeypox cases jumped 20% in the last week to 35,000 across 92 countries. Nearly all reported cases are in Europe and the Americas. (CNBC)

Inside America’s monkeypox crisis. “100 days after the outbreak was first detected in Europe, no country has more cases than the United States — with public health experts warning the virus is on the verge of becoming permanently entrenched here.” (Washington Post)

2/ Federal Reserve officials indicated that they likely need to continue raising interest rates until inflation comes down substantially. Last month, officials voted to raise their benchmark rate by 0.75 percentage point in July, following June’s increase of the same size – the largest rate increases since 1994. Overall retail sales, meanwhile, were unchanged in July, slowed by the falling price of gasoline. Excluding the sale of gas and cars, retail sales rose 0.7% last month. (Wall Street Journal / Bloomberg / CNBC / New York Times / Reuters)

3/ Pence said he would “consider” to testifying before the Jan. 6 committee “if there was an invitation.” “I would have to reflect on the unique role that I was serving as vice president,” Pence continued. “It would be unprecedented in history for the vice president to be summoned to testify on Capitol Hill. But, as I said, I don’t want to prejudge ever any formal invitation rendered to us.” During the same event, Pence also called on Republicans to stop attacking the FBI over the search of Mar-a-Lago. (Politico /