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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.

FILE - In this March 24, 2017, photo, House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., announces that he is pulling the troubled Republican health care overhaul bill off the House floor at the Capitol in Washington. Note to President Donald Trump and House Republicans: People really don't like your approach to overhauling America's health care. If you're hoping to revive the effort, you may want to try something different. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, file)

Paul Ryan rules out working with Democrats on health care

President Trump may be hinting at a health care deal with Democrats, but House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said Thursday he isn't interested in that, saying it would be better to rally the GOP troops around a conservative plan that scraps Obamacare. Published March 30, 2017

House Oversight and Investigations subcommittee Chairman, Rep. Tim Murphy, R-Pa., and ranking member Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., right, listen to testimony on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, July 16, 2014, during a hearing on the incident last month at a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lab that handles bioterrorism agents. (AP Photo/Lauren Victoria Burke) ** FILE **

Diana DeGette: Bipartisan push on health care is within reach

Congress can forge common ground on health care, from targeting high premiums in certain states to negotiating down drug prices, but only if President Trump and Republicans refuse to revive an Obamacare repeal plan that fell apart last week, a senior House Democrat said Wednesday. Published March 29, 2017

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif. speaks at the 2017 American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) Policy Conference, Tuesday, March 28, 2017, at the Washington Convention Center in Washington. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Nancy Pelosi to Democrats: Send in ideas to improve Obamacare

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi told fellow Democrats Tuesday to offer ideas for improving Obamacare, saying they must not allow the law to twist in the wind after the GOP failed to rally around its own repeal bill last week. Published March 28, 2017

Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., joined by Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of Calif., talks about getting past last week's failure to pass a health care overhaul bill and rebuilding unity in the Republican Conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 28, 2017. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Paul Ryan: GOP won’t retreat on health care

House Republican leaders pledged Tuesday to revive efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare, even predicting that Democrats who celebrated the GOP's stumbles wouldn't be laughing for long. Published March 28, 2017

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, left, joined by House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Rep. Greg Walden, R-Ore., makes a point as the House Rules Committee meets to shape the final version of the Republican health care bill before it goes to the floor for debate and a vote, Wednesday, March 22, 2017, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) **FILE**

Kevin Brady: We’re ‘turning the page’ from health to taxes

The chairman of the House tax committee declared Monday he is "turning the page" from health care to tax reform, saying Republicans and the White House are eager to deliver "better-than-Reagan" reforms in the months ahead despite the ugly fallout from the GOP's failure to repeal and replace Obamacare. Published March 27, 2017

After a loss in his bid to overturn Obamacare, President Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Thomas Price are hoping to move on to a second phase, stripping a provision requiring insurers to pay for mental health and maternity care. (Associated Press)

Tom Price, HHS chief, in spotlight after ditched vote on Obamacare repeal

With health care stalled on Capitol Hill, the pressure now shifts to President Trump and new Health and Human Services Secretary Thomas Price, who will have to manage a law Republicans say is failing on its own — without giving Democrats more ammunition to say it was the GOP that killed it. Published March 26, 2017

President Donald Trump, flanked by Health and Human Services Secretary Tom Price, left, and Vice President Mike Pence, right, speaks about the health care overhaul bill, Friday, March 24, 2017, in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)

GOP health care bill pulled at Trump’s request

House Republicans called off a vote on their Obamacare repeal bill Friday, acknowledging a stinging defeat and sending the party on a round of deep soul-searching about whether they can be a governing majority. Published March 24, 2017

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wisc., passes a waving tourist as he walks from the House Chamber to his office on Capitol Hill in Washington, Friday, March 24, 2017, as the House nears a vote on their health care overhaul. (AP Photo/Cliff Owen)

House speeds toward risky vote on Obamacare replacement

A House GOP bill to repeal and replace Obamacare sped toward a risky, take-it-or-leave-it floor vote late Friday, after President Trump threatened to move on unless the party backed his plan. Published March 24, 2017

FILE - In this Feb. 16, 2017 file photo, President Donald Trump, accompanied by Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., speaks in the Roosevelt Room of the White House in Washington. House Republican leaders want to shift more than $2 billion in Medicaid costs from upstate counties to the New York State government. The provision would help mostly Republican-controlled counties that have struggled to subsidize Medicaid payments for the poor. New York City wouldnt get the same relief.  (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Republicans reschedule Obamacare showdown vote for Friday

President Trump's team delivered a final ultimatum to House Republicans Thursday night, saying they'll make one more round of changes to the health bill, then hold a final vote -- and if it fails, they're done. Published March 23, 2017

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi of Calif., accompanied by her grandson Thomas, walks to a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, March 23, 2017, as the GOP's long-promised legislation to repeal and replace "Obamacare" comes to a showdown vote. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Nancy Pelosi: Trump made a rookie’s error’ on health care push

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Thursday said President Trump made a major blunder by pushing to repeal and replace Obamacare on the anniversary of the overhaul's passage, saying it's unwise to pick a day and then hope the support is there in time. Published March 23, 2017

Rep. Jim McGovern, Massachusetts Democrat, speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington on May 7, 2014. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Democrats beg GOP to slow down on Obamacare repeal

House Democrats implored Republicans to pump the brakes on a fast-moving plan to repeal and replace Obamacare, saying they were hurtling toward a Thursday vote on legislation that affects millions yet could significantly change before the end of the day. Published March 23, 2017

Rep. Dave Brat, R-Va., a member of the conservative Freedom Caucus, arrives for the meeting of the Republican Conference with President Donald Trump as he rallied support for the GOP health care bill at the Capitol, in Washington, Tuesday, March 21, 2017. Trump has been trying to persuade reluctant members of the Freedom Caucus to get behind the bill. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Freedom Caucus to House leaders: Delay health vote to avoid failure

Hard-line conservatives told House leaders to delay Thursday's high-stakes floor showdown on Obamacare, saying the repeal bill doesn't have enough support to pass -- putting them on a collision course with President Trump, who says this is the only chance Republicans will have. Published March 22, 2017