Skip to content

Listen Now

Threat Status podcast: The Pentagon-Silicon Valley divide and who blinks first on AI?

TRENDING:
Donald Trump
Advertisement

Tom Howell Jr.

Tom Howell Jr.

Tom Howell Jr. covers politics and the White House for The Washington Times. He can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.

Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

In this Feb. 11, 2009, file photo, a shopper looks over the milk aisle at the Hunger Mountain Co-op in Montpelier, Vt. Soy and almond drinks don’t come from cows, so regulators may soon ask them to stop calling themselves “milk.” The Food and Drug Administration signaled plans to start enforcing a federal standard that defines “milk” as coming from the “milking of one or more healthy cows.” That would mark a change for the agency, which has not aggressively gone after the proliferation of plant-based drinks labeled as “milk.” (AP Photo/Toby Talbot, File)

FDA wants to clarify what’s ‘milk’ and what’s not

Food and Drug Commissioner Scott Gottlieb drew chuckles this month when he hinted at a crackdown on products that call themselves "milk" but aren't drawn from an animal, quipping: "An almond doesn't lactate, I will confess." Published July 26, 2018

"It's so counterintuitive to think that paying out of pocket is going to be cheaper than using your insurance," Sen. Susan Collins said. "Using your debit card is going to be cheaper than using your insurance card?" (Associated Press)

Susan Collins writes bill to ban gag clauses at pharmacy

Sen. Susan Collins was astonished to learn that some pharmacists are "gagged" from being able to tell customers they can save money by paying cash for their prescriptions, instead of relying on their insurance and making the co-payment. Published July 25, 2018

Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar speaks during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on prescription drug pricing, Tuesday, June 26, 2018, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) ** FILE **

Majority says Donald Trump on the hook for Obamacare’s problems: Poll

Nearly six in 10 Americans say President Trump and his GOP allies are responsible for Obamacare-related problems because they've made changes to the law, according to a poll released Wednesday that frames the public's view on looming political battles. Published July 25, 2018

Rep. Kyrsten Sinema, D-Ariz. speaks on May 29, 2018, at the Capitol in Phoenix. Sinema has come a long way from her days as a green party activist as she seeks to become the first Democrat to represent Arizona in the Senate in 30 years. (AP Photo/Matt York)

House votes to repeal medical device tax

The House voted Tuesday to repeal Obamacare's tax on medical device sales, part of a weeklong GOP effort to reel in health costs and blunt Democrats' sharpest critique ahead of the midterm elections. Published July 24, 2018

FILE - In this file photo taken Thursday, May 31, 2018, Congolese health officials prepare to disinfect people and buildings at the general referral hospital in Mbandaka, Congo. Congo's Health Minister Oly Ilunga Kalenga on Tuesday July 24, 2018, declared the end of the country's latest deadly outbreak of the Ebola virus, after a 42-day observation period with no new confirmed cases recorded. (AP Photo/John Bompengo, FILE)

WHO: Ebola outbreak in the Congo is over

An Ebola outbreak that sparked fears of another global health crisis and a rapid response to the Democratic Republic of Congo has been successfully contained, the World Health Organization said Tuesday. Published July 24, 2018

President Trump used a series of tweets to argue that heavily redacted documents show that FBI agents misled the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court by using a dossier partly funded by the Hillary Clinton campaign to obtain a warrant to snoop on Carter Page. (Associated Press/File)

Donald Trump says FBI ‘illegally spied’ on Carter Page, campaign

President Trump on Sunday said top-secret documents prove the FBI spied on his 2016 campaign in an "illegal scam," putting him at odds with Capitol Hill lawmakers, including Republicans, who insist federal authorities were justified in tracking foreign policy adviser Carter Page. Published July 22, 2018

Sen. Bob Casey, D-Pa., gestures after being introduced before a general election campaign event with Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., Friday, July 13, 2018, in Philadelphia. Harris is headlining a pair of fundraisers for Casey. (AP Photo/Matt Slocum)

Senate Democrats offer resolution to protect Obamacare

Senate Democrats on Thursday pressured Republican leaders to step in and protect Obamacare from a state-driven lawsuit that threatens Obamacare's main protections for sicker Americans, saying President Trump's refusal to defend the program leaves them no choice. Published July 19, 2018

This Oct. 25, 2011, file photo shows the logo of Swiss pharmaceutical company Novartis AG on one of their buildings in Basel, Switzerland. (Georgios Kefalas/Keystone via AP, File)

Novartis joins Pfizer in deferring drug-price hikes

Novartis on Wednesday became the second major drug company to defer price increases in 2018, citing a "dynamic environment" in the U.S. as President Trump attempts to swat away critics and use market-based pressure to bring costs down. Published July 18, 2018

State lawmaker Rep. Christy Perry, R-Nampa, who has been an advocate of the Medicaid expansion initiative, speaks in Boise, Idaho, Friday, July 6, 2018, to a group of volunteers who gathered over 70,000 voter signatures to place the measure on this November's ballot. (Darin Oswald/Idaho Statesman via AP)

Idaho voters to decide whether to expand Medicaid

Idaho voters will decide this fall whether to expand Medicaid under Obamacare, state Secretary of State Lawerence Denney said Tuesday, after proponents turned in more than enough signatures to put the issue on the general-election ballot. Published July 17, 2018

An employee works among the shelves of the flagship Dougherty's Pharmacy in Preston Royal Village on Thursday, May 31, 2018, in Dallas. (Smiley N. Pool/The Dallas Morning News via AP)

FDA eyes broader range of over-the-counter drugs

The Trump administration said Tuesday that it is pushing to let consumers purchase more medicines without prescriptions, saying better labeling and digital apps that let patients "self-select" drugs would expand access to cholesterol-reducing pills, opioid overdose-reversing naloxone and other drugs. Published July 17, 2018