By
Steven T. Dennis, Matt Fuller
| July 29, 2013, 5:48 p.m.
The effort by conservatives in the House and Senate to threaten a government shutdown over Obamacare could force Speaker John A. Boehner into the arms of House Democrats.
By
Hannah Hess
| July 26, 2013, 2:39 p.m.
More than two decades of work on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has helped earn Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton, D-D.C., a plum new assignment in which she will play a major role in rewriting national surface transportation policy.
Sara Rosenbaum and Patricia Gabow
| July 26, 2013, 1:14 p.m.
Passage of the Affordable Care Act has positioned the United States to establish a national floor of insurance coverage for nearly all Americans, using an approach that combines employer coverage with Medicaid for the poor and a subsidized health insurance marketplace (exchanges) for people who have neither. Several unexpected twists threaten to derail this effort. The question is how to devise a solution.
Ron Kuerbitz
| July 26, 2013, 5 a.m.
In November 1971, a gentleman named Shep Glazer testified before a Congressional committee. By nearly all measures, it was a fairly standard affair. An American, acting under the belief that there was a problem that needed solving, went to Congress to state his case. His experience was nearly identical to that of tens of thousands of other Americans who have sought redress from their elected officials, save one critical difference: He did it while receiving treatment from a dialysis machine.
Sen. John Cornyn
| July 25, 2013, 5 a.m.
The scandals surrounding the Internal Revenue Service continue to grow. We now know that President Barack Obama’s handpicked chief counsel of the IRS was aware of his agency’s malfeasance. With this revelation, the shaky narrative originally pushed by the administration — that all blame lies with a few meddling staffers in the Cincinnati office — has come crashing down around them. This scandal implicates officials at the very highest levels of the IRS.
Alan Weil
| July 25, 2013, 5 a.m.
While the nation’s governors are divided on whether to expand their Medicaid programs under the Affordable Care Act, they agree on one thing: their desire to slow spending growth on this program that currently consumes, on average, about 20 percent of their general fund. Recent congressional proposals to cut Medicaid spending are based on a similar desire.
By
Rebecca Adams
| July 22, 2013, 3:07 p.m.
Congress is unlikely to pass any legislation making changes to abortion this year, but that hasn’t stopped both sides from taking legislative steps aimed at energizing their core constituencies.
By
Rebecca Adams
| July 22, 2013, 3:05 p.m.
The sounds of protests over abortion issues at state Capitols across the country are fading as legislatures conclude divisive debates over new restrictions. But advocates on both sides of the issue are quietly watching to see how another volatile fight will soon play — this one over how insurers will choose to cover abortion in new marketplaces under the health care law.
Steven C. Anderson
| July 22, 2013, 1:17 p.m.
Partisanship usually gets the blame when Washington fails to muster an appropriate governmental response to the nation’s challenges. But when it comes to confronting prescription drug abuse, the divide within the government is caused not by the culprit of partisan stripes but rather by departmental silos. That needs to change.
By
Emma Dumain
| July 15, 2013, 6:43 p.m.
House Republican leaders, who have struggled at times to keep their conference together, have set floor votes on health care designed to show that the Democratic Caucus is fractured, too.
By
Ellyn Ferguson
| July 15, 2013, 4:41 p.m.
The chairwoman of the Senate Agriculture Committee said Monday that she is worried lawmakers could run out of time to produce a final farm bill if House leaders do not quickly send their chamber’s agriculture-only version to the Senate.
Richard Hausmann
| July 15, 2013, 2:01 p.m.
When scientists, Congress, the health care industry and high-tech manufacturers all agree on the urgency of an issue, you know it is more than hot air. A large portion of the U.S. supply of available helium is set to become unavailable on Oct. 7 because of a legislative deadline set in law by the Helium Privatization Act of 1996. Congress has the opportunity to immediately address this challenge while also supporting manufacturing, innovation and economic strength across the nation.
Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson
| July 15, 2013, 11:43 a.m.
Something historic is happening in Texas. Recently, the Texas Legislature approved an outrageous bill that would ban abortion after 20 weeks with only narrow exceptions and shut down many health clinics. Yet Republicans’ unrelenting attacks on women’s choices have hit a nerve, and women across Texas are standing up to protect their rights in staggering numbers.
Patricia Smith and Mary Brainerd
| July 11, 2013, 5 a.m.
We’ve all been there.
By
Steven T. Dennis
| July 10, 2013, 4:20 p.m.
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney defended the president’s record on border security Wednesday and dismissed concerns raised by members of both parties over the legality of delaying the employer health care mandate of the Affordable Care Act for a year.
By
Steven T. Dennis
| July 9, 2013, 11:23 a.m.
President Barack Obama’s decision to delay enforcement of the employer health mandate last week had GOP leaders crying foul Tuesday and pushing for a broader repeal of the health care law.
By
Emily Ethridge
| July 8, 2013, 5:52 p.m.
Beachgoers reaching for the sunscreen this summer may notice some new labels on the bottles, including warnings that the product may not protect against skin cancer.
Dr. Richard Kahn
| July 8, 2013, 2:03 p.m.
On July 1, Medicare implemented the national rollout of a new competitive bidding program for durable medical products that is intended to reduce health care costs without sacrificing quality. Indeed, the government ran a pilot program in nine markets, and in that experiment, competitive bidding between medical product manufacturers helped reduce health care costs. Unfortunately, significant issues have recently surfaced that threaten to seriously undermine the ability of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to deliver quality care at these costs.
By
Steven T. Dennis, Matt Fuller
| July 5, 2013, 2:29 p.m.
President Barack Obama’s latest legal end run around Congress — delaying enforcement of the employer health mandate — has sparked more questions about whether he’s abusing his executive discretion under the Constitution.
By
Kerry Young
| July 5, 2013, 11:30 a.m.
The late Sen. Daniel K. Inouye, who lost an arm fighting in World War II, once observed that advances in transportation and medicine were allowing soldiers to survive battlefield wounds that would have been a death sentence during his time in combat.
