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Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

President Obama has acquiesced to Congress' fiscal tweaks but has fended off every effort to repeal or cut benefits from his health care law. (Associated Press)

Health care costs to rise without any benefit cuts

President Obama has managed to defend his signature health care law's generous system of taxpayer-funded benefits from attacks in Congress and the courts, but Capitol Hill is finally beginning to eat away at Obamacare's financial foundations.

December 28, 2015
The HealthCare.gov website is busier than ever, the Health and Human Services Department reports. (Associated Press/File)

HealthCare.gov signups hit 8.2 million

Obamacare sign-ups on the federal HealthCare.gov website are running 2 million ahead of last year's pace, with 8.2 million so far, the administration announced Tuesday, saying demand has surged as customers rush to have coverage in place before the new year.

December 22, 2015
FILE - In this July 28, 2015, file photo, Erica Canaut, center, cheers as she and other anti-abortion activists rally on the steps of the Texas Capitol in Austin, Texas, to condemn the use in medical research of tissue samples obtained from aborted fetuses. Texas announced Monday, Oct. 19, 2015, that it was cutting off Medicaid funding to Planned Parenthood clinics following undercover videos of officials discussing fetal tissue, potentially triggering a legal fight like the one unfolding in neighboring Louisiana. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)

Obama admin. agrees to fetal-tissue research probe amid Planned Parenthood backlash

The Health and Human Services Department's inspector general has agreed to probe how the Obama administration funds and oversees research involving fetal tissue, according to Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who drew a straight line Tuesday between the audit and undercover videos that appeared to show Planned Parenthood officials negotiating the sale of fetal body parts.

December 22, 2015
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., speaks to reporters and members of the Communication Workers of America (CWA), following the union's endorsement of Sanders, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015, at the CWA's headquarters in Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

Bernard Sanders spat with DNC over Hillary Clinton data breach stretches on

Sen. Bernard Sanders' bizarre spat with the Democratic National Committee stretched into a fourth day Sunday, with the grass-roots contender for the 2016 nomination tempering apologies for staff who breached his rival's campaign files with new swipes at the party's leaders, saying they've treated him unfairly.

December 20, 2015
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell speaks in Washington on July 28, 2014. (Associated Press) **FILE**

HealthCare.gov grabs 6 million customers

Roughly 6 million people selected a health plan on HealthCare.gov in time to be covered on Jan. 1, the Obama administration said Friday, boasting of a "very strong start" to the Obamacare signup season that outpaces last year's effort to beat a crucial mid-December deadline.

December 18, 2015
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks with reporters after the Senate gave sweeping approval to a year-end budget package that boosts federal agency spending and awards tax cuts to both families and an array of business interests, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 18, 2015. President Obama will sign the measure, which includes many of the spending increases he fought for all year and is largely free of GOP attempts to block his moves on the environment, financial regulation, and consumer protection. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Mitch McConnell takes 2015 victory lap

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell closed out his first year in charge of the Senate with a victory lap Friday, saying bipartisan passage of a spending and tax-relief package caps a productive year in the upper chamber after years of gridlock.

December 18, 2015
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. gestures during an end-of-the-year news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015, as the Congress moves toward passage of a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Congress passes $1 trillion spending bill, dodges shutdown crisis

Congress cleared a nearly $2 trillion package to fund the government and extend popular tax breaks while increasing the federal deficit by hundreds of billions, angering conservatives even as a host of Republicans linked arms with Democrats to usher the compromise to President Obama's desk and avert a Christmastime crisis.

December 18, 2015
House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, examines a printout of the $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the government for the 2016 budget year and extend $680 billion in tax cuts for businesses and individuals, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the legislation. (Associated Press)

House OKs more than $600B in tax cuts

The House approved a $620 billion deal Thursday that solidifies a laundry list of tax breaks for businesses and families while pausing Obamacare's tax on medical device sales, part of a one-two punch against the overhaul as Congress scrambles to finish its work before the year ends.

December 17, 2015
FILE - 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. The government's insurance website is faster and easier to use, but as a third sign-up season gets underway, President Barack Obama's health care law is approaching limits. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

HealthCare.gov signups crest 4M as deadline nears

At least 4.1 million people have selected a 2016 health plan on HealthCare.gov, according to an Obamacare update released Wednesday that says more than 1 million people signed up in the last week alone.

December 16, 2015
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said that while the GOP may not get everything it wants in ongoing budget negotiations to keep the government open, he remains hopeful that the U.S. oil export ban, long on the Republican priority list, can be lifted. (Associated Press)

Congress closes in on budget deal to fund government

Congressional leaders agreed Tuesday to a sweeping deal that would fund the government through October, extend a package of popular tax breaks and lift the decades-old ban on U.S. oil exports -- a key policy win for GOP lawmakers who nonetheless said they didn't get everything they wanted out of the deal.

December 15, 2015