"It’s absurd and Orwellian, it’s stupid and Orwellian, but they are not saying to not use the words in reports or articles or scientific publications or anything else the C.D.C. does."

"They’re saying not to use it in your request for money because it will hurt you. It’s not about censoring what C.D.C. can say to the American public. It’s about a budget strategy to get funded."

An unnamed "former federal official" explained to the NYT what's behind this weird report that "officials at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had been barred from using seven words or phrases, including 'science-based,' 'fetus,' 'transgender' and 'vulnerable,' in agency budget documents."

It wasn't that people inside the CDC were offended by those terms. It was that they feared those words might trigger opposition from Republicans in Congress from whom they are trying to get support. It's self-censorship. Or so it seems. We're not seeing Republicans banning words but how people who feel antagonistic to Republicans are willing to change their speech in order to get more of what they want from Republicans.