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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.

Utah Governor Gary Herbert speaks at the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee hearing to discuss ways to stabilize health insurance markets, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Sept. 7, 2017. ( AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Governors in both parties plead for Obamacare payments, flexibility

Governors who were shut out of the drive to repeal Obamacare implored Congress on Thursday to shore up the program by guaranteeing dollars the White House has threatened to withhold, while giving states a freer hand to shape their markets under the 2010 law. Published September 7, 2017

FILE - In this Tuesday, Aug. 29, 2017, file photo, water from Addicks Reservoir flows into neighborhoods as floodwaters from Tropical Storm Harvey rise in Houston. For small businesses, the recovery from hurricanes and other natural disasters can take years, if they can recover at all. Business owners in Houston have only just started assessing their damage and how to move forward. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip, File)

Texas to begin aerial mosquito spraying after Harvey

Texas health officials said Wednesday they will use airplanes to spray for mosquitoes in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, which left large areas of standing water in which nuisance or Zika-carrying insects can lay eggs. Published September 6, 2017

Sen. Lamar Alexander, Tennessee Republican, said the administration's tariffs are "like shooting ourselves in both feet" because they raise prices for consumers while reducing revenue, profits, wages and jobs. (Associated Press/File)

Senate panel launches push to patch up Obamacare

The Senate Health Committee launched a politically ambitious effort Wednesday to shore up Obamacare's ailing markets, saying nearly 20 million Americans are counting on them to find common ground after President Trump's push to repeal and replace the law collapsed. Published September 6, 2017

Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, walks towards the Senate floor on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2017. Lawmakers returned to Washington Tuesday facing fast-approaching deadlines, including pressing demands to replenish dwindling disaster aid reserves as Texas and Louisiana dig out from Harvey and an even more powerful hurricane, Irma, bears down on the U.S. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Republicans facing swiftly closing window on Obamacare repeal

Congressional Republicans returned from their summer recess Tuesday facing a swiftly closing window to repeal Obamacare using GOP votes alone, as a mounting September to-do list and procedural deadlines threatened to doom a fast-track effort that was supposed to be dusted off months ago. Published September 5, 2017

Senate Health Committee chairman Sen. Lamar Alexander is urging his GOP colleagues to bless short-term fixes to Obamacare for consumers and insurers who've been left in a type of "no man's land" ahead of this fall's sign-up period. Mr. Alexander launched the effort with Democratic Sen. Patty Murray. (Associated Press)

Obamacare shore-up bill pushed by bipartisan group of senators

Despite partisan headwinds and a crowded September to-do list, a bipartisan crop of senators is pushing a GOP-led Congress to endorse what would have been unthinkable at the start of the year — a bill to shore up Obamacare. Published September 4, 2017

In this Oct. 6, 2015, file photo, the HealthCare.gov website, where people can buy health insurance, is displayed on a laptop screen in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

Trump admin. slashes funding for Obamacare promotion

The Trump administration announced Thursday it will dramatically slash taxpayer spending on Obamacare promotion next year, reeling in millions in advertising and tying grants for "navigator" groups to how many people they signed up last year. Published August 31, 2017

Ohio Gov. John Kasich, right, joined by Colorado Gov. John Hickenlooper, speaks during a news conference at the National Press Club in Washington, Tuesday, June 27, 2017, about Republican legislation overhauling the Obama health care law. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster) ** FILE **

John Kasich, John Hickenlooper recommend Obamacare fixes

A bipartisan pair of governors advised Congress Thursday to bolster Obamacare's ailing markets by funding critical insurer payments and a temporary fund for super-costly customers, while making it easier for states to forge their own path. Published August 31, 2017

This Oct. 14, 2015, file photo shows the Food and Drug Administration campus in Silver Spring, Md.

FDA approves first-ever gene therapy in U.S.

Federal regulators green-lighted an "historic" gene therapy Wednesday that uses the body's own immune cells to attack an acute form of leukemia in children and young adults. Published August 30, 2017

Mario Henderson leads chants of "save Medicaid," as other social service activists, Medicaid recipients and their supporters stage a protest outside the building that houses the offices of U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, R-Miss., Thursday, June 29, 2017, in Jackson, Miss. Soaring prices and fewer choices may greet customers when they return to the Affordable Care Act’s insurance marketplaces in the fall of 2017, in part because insurers are facing deep uncertainty about whether the Trump administration will continue to make key subsidy payments and enforce other parts of the existing law that help control prices. (AP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

CDC: 28 million lacked insurance in early 2017

The number of uninsured Americans remained relatively unchanged from early 2016 to 2017, the government said Tuesday, offering fresh evidence that Obamacare's sweeping coverage gains are stalling out. Published August 29, 2017

Volunteers and Harris County Sheriff deputies lift an elderly person on a wheelchair over the flooded C.E. King Parkway under the East Sam Houston North on Monday, Aug. 28, 2017, in Houston. (Steve Gonzales/Houston Chronicle via AP)

CDC warns Hurricane Harvey victims of post-storm risks

Americans reeling from the storm damage and flooding in Texas and Louisiana should watch out for major health risks after Hurricane Harvey is gone, federal health officials said Tuesday, warning residents to avoid everything from downed power lines and carbon monoxide to mosquitoes and mold. Published August 29, 2017

In this Oct. 8, 2013, file photo, a sign marks the entrance to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta. (AP Photo/David Goldman, File)

CDC: HPV vaccination rates rising, though rural areas lag behind

Most parents are taking their children to get vaccinated for sexually transmitted HPV, yet fewer than half of U.S. teens received the follow-up shots they need to be fully protected, the government said Thursday in a study that also finds rural areas are falling behind. Published August 24, 2017