Tom Howell Jr.
Articles by Tom Howell Jr.
John Kasich, Ohio governor: GOP primary is like a ‘demolition derby’
Ohio Gov. John Kasich on Sunday said American voters are pleading with him to strike a positive tone in the GOP presidential race. Published February 14, 2016
Ted Cruz says Donald Trump would not appoint a conservative Supreme Court justice
Ted Cruz said "basic liberties" will be hanging in the balance whenever the Senate votes to confirm a replacement for Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Published February 14, 2016
Bernie Sanders, Vermont senator, hits GOP plans to stall Obama’s Supreme Court nominee
Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders said Sunday the U.S. Constitution is "pretty clear" about what should happen when there is a vacancy on the Supreme Court. Published February 14, 2016
Marco Rubio, GOP presidential candidate: Senate will not approve Obama’s court nominee
Marco Rubio said Sunday the U.S. Supreme Court "can function with eight justices" in the wake of Justice Antonin Scalia's sudden death. Published February 14, 2016
Milwaukee wins Obamacare signup contest, visit from president
President Obama will visit Milwaukee in the coming weeks to celebrate its winning effort in a tourney to see which city could drive its uninsured population into the Obamacare marketplace, the White House said Friday. Published February 12, 2016
CDC chief: Link between Zika, birth defect ‘increasingly certain’
Evidence that the Zika virus causes serious birth defects is growing stronger by the day, the head of the Centers for Disease Control said Thursday as he lobbied Congress to approve President Obama's $1.8 billion request to the fight the rapidly spreading disease at home and abroad. Published February 11, 2016
HHS: Look at uninsured rate, not Obamacare signups
President Obama's top health official told Congress Wednesday that Obamacare is making "historic" strides, even if 2016 enrollment on its web-based exchanges amounted to little more than half of what budget scorekeepers initially projected. Published February 10, 2016
GOP eyes Obamacare replacement by summer
Speaker Paul D. Ryan has instructed his health care task force to "go big and go bold" in its push to replace Obamacare with a clear GOP alternative for voters this year -- preferably before Congress breaks this summer for the 2016 party conventions, a powerful House Republican said Wednesday. Published February 10, 2016
Tax forms pose new wrinkle in Congress’s ‘Obamacare exemption’
Capitol Hill lawmakers and staff are receiving tax-reporting forms that describe Congress as a large employer subject to Obamacare's "employer mandate," even as the administration describes the massive law-making body as a small business in other paperwork. Published February 10, 2016
Democrats say Republicans unfocused on fighting Zika virus and Flint lead-water problem
Senate Democrats accused the GOP majority Tuesday of paying lip service to lead-poisoned families in Michigan and waffling in its response to the Zika virus that's threatening U.S. shores, signaling they will use both crises as a prism for each party's philosophy on federal intervention. Published February 9, 2016
Obama uses budget to bolster his health care legacy
President Obama used his final budget proposal Tuesday to try and shore up his health care legacy before he leaves office, tweaking Obamacare's contentious "Cadillac" tax and enticing holdout states to expand Medicaid even as he targets a devastating heroin epidemic that's got the attention of both parties. Published February 9, 2016
White House requests $1.8 billion from Congress to fight Zika virus
The World Health Organization said Monday it wants to fast-track a better test for the Zika virus as dozens of countries cope with yet another scary pandemic, saying doctors on the front lines should at least be able to single out the disease from similar infections in hard-hit Latin America. Published February 8, 2016
Sylvia Mathews Burwell, HHS chief: Next president should preserve Obamacare’s gains
President Obama's top health official said Friday the next administration should push for universal coverage by solidifying Obamacare's gains in taxpayer-subsidized coverage, urging holdout states to expand Medicaid and prodding Congress to revamp U.S. immigration laws. Published February 5, 2016
Obamacare hits 12.7M customers for 2016, HHS reports
Roughly 12.7 million people have selected plans on Obamacare's exchanges, the administration said Thursday, giving the first comprehensive look at potential enrollment in the third year of the health overhaul. Published February 4, 2016
Senate Democrats block energy bill amid Flint standoff
Senate Democrats filibustered a bipartisan energy bill Thursday after Republicans refused to include $300 million in federal aid for Michigan residents afflicted by lead-tainted water in Flint. Published February 4, 2016
Martin Shkreli, ‘pharma bro,’ rebuffs Congress through silence
Martin Shkreli, the so-called "pharma bro" whose brash style won him few friends before an indictment for securities fraud, refused to answer Congress' questions Thursday about why he jacked up the price of a decades-old drug more than 50-fold. Published February 4, 2016
Michigan official apologizes for Flint crisis
Michigan should have acted sooner to correct the Flint water crisis, the state's top environmental official told Congress Wednesday, saying officials got caught up in technical compliance with the law instead of making sure residents had safe drinking water. Published February 3, 2016
Sen. David Vitter reignites ‘Obamacare exemption’ fight
Sen. David Vitter this week will reignite his one-man crusade to find out how Congress managed to "exempt" itself from Obamacare by keeping an employer subsidy that everyday Americans cannot enjoy under the 2010 health overhaul. Published February 2, 2016
Obamacare repeal vote by GOP stymied by Democrats
House Democrats sustained President Obama's veto of an Obamacare repeal Tuesday, defeating the GOP's deepest salvo yet against the controversial health law but delivering a rallying cry to conservative Republicans in a pivotal election year. Published February 2, 2016
Democrats: Disband Planned Parenthood probe
Congressional Democrats on Tuesday told House Speaker Paul D. Ryan to "immediately disband" a taxpayer-funded probe into Planned Parenthood, saying a Texas grand jury's decision to indict the abortion provider's opponents had discredited a select committee tasked with scrutinizing groups that harvest fetal tissue. Published February 2, 2016
