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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.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell will tell any Republican holdouts that they will have to explain to the party's conservative base why they are standing in the way of fulfilling a campaign promise. (Associated Press/File)

Mitch McConnell: Senate will take up Obamacare repeal bill

Senate Republicans will hold a vote on an Obamacare repeal bill next week, leaders announced Wednesday, attempting one final Hail Mary play to kill off the 2010 law before the chamber runs out of time. Published September 20, 2017

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says she is thinking about sensors, drones and access roads for border security, but President Trump is sticking with his demand for a wall. (Associated Press)

Nancy Pelosi says House can defeat Obamacare repeal

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said Wednesday the House has a "really good chance" to defeat a last-ditch Obamacare repeal bill if it makes it out of the Senate. Published September 20, 2017

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., joined by, from left, Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks to reporters as he pushes a last-ditch effort to uproot former President Barack Obama's health care law, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 19, 2017. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

New Obamacare repeal cuts $215B to states overall: Study

The Senate GOP's last-ditch Obamacare repeal plan would slash federal funding to the states by $215 billion through 2026, analysts said Wednesday in a study that finds less than a third of states would see an increase in funding compared to the current program. Published September 20, 2017

Vice President Mike Pence delivered a pep talk to Senate Republicans and plotted strategy with Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of the chief architects of the proposal to repeal Obamacare and send money to states in the form of block grants. (Associated Press)

Senate Republicans near Obamacare repeal

Senate Republicans scrambled for votes Tuesday on their last-ditch Obamacare repeal, with backers saying they are nearing the magic number to pass their bill before an end-of-month deadline. Published September 19, 2017

Vice President Mike Pence delivered a pep talk to Senate Republicans and plotted strategy with Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, one of the chief architects of the proposal to repeal Obamacare and send money to states in the form of block grants. (Associated Press)

White House, Senate GOP shift focus back onto Obamacare repeal

The White House and Senate GOP leaders on Tuesday praised a last-gasp bill to repeal Obamacare, signaling a shift from bipartisan efforts to stabilize the markets to a bill that would replace the 2010 law with block grants to the states. Published September 19, 2017

Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, New York Democrat, protested the Republicans' Graham-Cassidy bill on Monday. Senate Republicans are revving up a final push to scuttle President Obama's health care law before the end of the month. (Associated Press)Though the effort faces low odds of success and just a two-week window to prevail, Democrats backed by doctors

Graham-Cassidy health care bill sets off clashes in Senate

Senators in both parties reignited the Obamacare repeal wars Monday, as Republicans claimed momentum for a last-chance repeal bill and Democrats told budget analysts to vet the legislation carefully, hoping to prolong a thorny debate before an end-of-month deadline. Published September 18, 2017

Sen. Ron Johnson, Wisconsin Republican, chairs a Senate Foreign Relations subcommittee hearing on Steve King, a prominent GOP insider from Wisconsin, nominated to be ambassador to the Czech Republic, on Capitol Hill in Washington on Aug. 1, 2017. (Associated Press)

Ron Johnson schedules hearing on health care block grants

Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin has scheduled a Sept. 26 hearing on how states can reduce their health care costs through block grants, a move viewed as a table-setter for a potential vote on the last-gasp Obamacare repeal bill he is pushing with three fellow Republicans. Published September 18, 2017

From left, Sen. Dean Heller, R-Nev., Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., and Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., hold a press conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017, to unveil legislation to reform health care. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Bill Cassidy: Obamacare repeal is within sight, needs one or two votes

Senate Republicans pushing to replace Obamacare with state block grants are making real noise before their window to act closes, insisting they are just one or two votes shy and that President Trump can nudge their last-gasp bill to victory. Published September 15, 2017

Republicans said the Congressional Budget Office made bad predictions about how Americans would have responded to legislation moving toward the repeal of Obamacare. (Associated Press/File)

Obamacare costs to rise faster than inflation, CBO projects

Obamacare premiums will rise an average of 5 percent a year over the next decade, much higher than the annual inflation rate, the government's chief scorekeeper predicted Thursday, saying that while the 2010 health care law is stable, the government will have to pump in more money per customer to keep it running. Published September 14, 2017

This image provided by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services shows what the new Medicare cards will look like. The cards are getting a makeover to fight identity theft. No more Social Security numbers will be placed on the card. Next April, Medicare will begin mailing every beneficiary a new card with a unique new number to identify them. (Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services via AP)

Medicare to issue new cards in anti-fraud measure

Medicare enrollees will receive brand-new cards that replace their Social Security numbers with unique IDs, the Trump administration said Thursday, hoping to crack down on the type of identity theft and fraud that's soaking the federal insurance program. Published September 14, 2017

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., center, joined by Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., center left, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., center right, and supporters, speaks at a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, Sept. 13, 2017, to unveil their Medicare for All legislation to reform health care. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Bernie Sanders, Democrats introduce “Medicare for all” bill

Sen. Bernard Sanders released a long-awaited "Medicare for all" bill Wednesday that would give Americans a publicly funded insurance card, allowing them to see the doctor without paying anything out-of-pocket or shelling out premiums to private companies. Published September 13, 2017

Senate Budget Committee members Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., left, and Sen. David Perdue, R-Ga., leave a closed-door meeting with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, and Trump's top economic adviser Gary Cohn, as they struggle with a tax code overhaul, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 12, 2017. The as-yet-undrafted bill to overhaul the tax code is the top priority for Trump and Republicans after the collapse of their effort to dismantle Barack Obama's health care law. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

GOP senators push last-ditch bill to repeal Obamacare

Four Senate Republicans unveiled a last-ditch effort Wednesday to repeal Obamacare, calling for scrapping federal insurance mandates and instead sending the health law's money to the states, letting them decide what to do with their share. Published September 13, 2017

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, New York Democrat (Associated Press) **FILE**

Kirsten Gillibrand joins chorus pushing ‘Medicare for all’

High-profile Democrats are rallying around Sen. Bernard Sanders' plan to offer "Medicare for all," as the push for universal, government-run coverage gains steam in the wake of the GOP's failure to kill Obamacare. Published September 12, 2017

President Donald Trump waves and begins to walk away after stopping to answers questions on at South Lawn of the White House in Washington, Sunday, Sept. 10, 2017. Trump commented on the response to Hurricane Irma which he called "some big monster," and praised both FEMA and the Coast Guard for their efforts as the storm made landfall. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

Democrats to Trump: Where’s your opioid emergency declaration?

Senate Democrats on Monday demanded to know why President Trump hasn't followed through on his month-old pledge to declare the opioid crisis a national emergency, saying the delay is forcing them to question his commitment to the fight. Published September 11, 2017

After casting the deciding thumbs-down on the GOP's repeal-and-replace effort on Obamacare in July, Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, is now supporting a plan by his GOP colleagues to allow states to use their Obamacare money as they see fit. (Associated Press)

Obamacare repeal vote sees new life under John McCain plan

Sen. John McCain, the longtime "maverick" whose thumbs-down quashed the GOP's push to repeal Obamacare in July, is now at the center of a long-shot bid to revive the repeal effort before Republicans run out of time. Published September 10, 2017