Skip to content
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.

Looking back at the 2012 election, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus concluded, "Our message was weak, our ground game was insufficient, we weren't inclusive, we were behind in both data and digital, our primary and debate process needed improvement." (CBS News via Associated Press)

Reince Priebus, RNC chairman: Campaign to enlist new GOP nominee is ‘dumb’

Republicans who think they can draft an eleventh-hour alternative to front-runner Donald Trump and Sen. Ted Cruz are pushing a dumb idea that is "never going to work," the party's top official said Sunday, throwing cold water on voices that say it is not to late to pick a candidate with broader appeal. Published April 24, 2016

In this Jan. 27, 2016, file photo, samples of Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, responsible for transmitting dengue and Zika, sit in a petri dish at the Fiocruz Institute in Recife, Pernambuco state, Brazil. Mosquito-eradication efforts have taken on new urgency in Brazil with the Olympic Games slated to start in August. (AP Photo/Felipe Dana, File)

Heritage Action: Make sure Zika virus deal is paid for

An influential conservative group told Congress on Friday to pay for an emerging deal to combat the Zika virus by swiping dollars from other programs or using the annual budget process to prioritize the fight over other spending. Published April 22, 2016

Dallas County Mosquito Lab microbiologist Spencer Lockwood sorts mosquitos collected in a trap, left, Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, in Hutchins, Texas, that had been set up in Dallas County near the location of a confirmed Zika virus infection. (AP Photo/LM Otero) ** FILE **

Senate works to partially fund Obama’s Zika request

The Senate is nearing a roughly $1 billion deal that would fund part of President Obama's request to fight the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne illness that causes serious birth defects and is threatening the U.S. mainland. Published April 21, 2016

FILE - In this Tuesday, Jan. 26, 2016 file photo, a health workers stands in the Sambadrome spraying insecticide to combat the Aedes aegypti mosquito that transmits the Zika virus in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In the 1940s and 1950s, Brazilian authorities made such a ferocious assault on Aedes aegypti that the mosquito, that it was eradicated from Latin America's largest country by 1958. But eradication experts say there is little chance that Brazil can come anywhere near stamping out the pest like it did a half century ago. (AP Photo/Leo Correa, File)

House Democrat: GOP has more detail on Zika request than we had on Iraq War

House Democrats on Wednesday accused Republican leaders of intentionally dragging out the debate over President Obama's $1.9 billion request to fight the Zika virus, saying the White House has already detailed everything there is to know about its plea for emergency funding. Published April 20, 2016

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer, Maryland Democrat, leaves the House Chamber at the Capitol in Washington on Feb. 27, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Steny Hoyer to conservatives: Stop blocking Ex-Im Bank nominee

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer pleaded with a key Senate Republican Tuesday to reconsider his "frustrating" decision to block a nominee to the Export-Import Bank, arguing his blockade is holding back an agency that enjoys majority support from Congress. Published April 19, 2016

Lara, who is less than 3 months old and was born with microcephaly, is examined by a neurologist at the Pedro I hospital in Campina Grande, Paraiba state, Brazil, on Feb. 12, 2016. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Senate Dems to Mitch McConnell: Take up $2B Zika request now

Senate Democrats pleaded with Republican leaders Monday to take up President Obama's $1.9 billion request to combat the Zika virus "as soon as possible," saying the mosquito-borne illness poses a real threat to pregnant women. Published April 18, 2016

House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., joined by House Majority Whip Steve Scalise of La., left, and other GOP leaders, meets with reporters following a closed-door caucus on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this Wednesday, April 13, 2016, file photo. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) ** FILE **

House GOP agrees: Puerto Rico bill isn’t a ‘bailout’

Congress' bill to rescue Puerto Rico from its debt crisis is not a bailout, House Republicans agreed Friday, but conservatives are still coming to grips with provisions that appear to rewrite the rules from under the island's creditors. Published April 15, 2016

Lara, who is less than 3 months old and was born with microcephaly, is examined by a neurologist at the Pedro I hospital in Campina Grande, Paraiba state, Brazil, on Feb. 12, 2016. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Zika causes birth defects: CDC

The Zika virus definitely causes babies to be born with abnormally small heads and suffer other brain defects, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Wednesday, hoping to erase any doubt about the mosquito-borne illness' threat to pregnant women and their newborns. Published April 13, 2016

House of Representatives Resident Commissioner for Puerto Rico Pedro Pierluisi speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, April 13, 2016, during the House Natural Resources Committee legislative hearing on a discussion draft of the "Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act." (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

GOP leaders scramble to rescue Puerto Rico from $72B debt

House Republican leaders scrambled Thursday to rally support for a bill that rescues Puerto Rico from $72 billion in bond debt by imposing an oversight board to audit the U.S. territory's finances and put it on a path toward fiscal responsibility. Published April 13, 2016

National Edition News cover for April 18, 2015 - Obamacare fails to deliver on free birth control as some insurers charge fees: FILE - This May 28, 1999, file photo shows a new birth control pill container designed to look like a woman's makeup compact for Ortho-McNeil Pharmaceutical Inc., of Raritan, N.J., displayed at the manufacturer's assembly line. More than half of privately insured women are getting free birth control due to President Barack Obama’s health care law, part of a big shift that’s likely to continue despite the Supreme Court allowing some employers with religious objections to opt out. (AP Photo/Mike Derer, File)

Obama rejects Supreme Court’s contraception trade-off

The administration shot down the Supreme Court's effort to forge a compromise on Obamacare's contraceptive mandate, saying Tuesday that the justices' alternative proposal would set up too many hurdles for the government and insurers. Published April 12, 2016