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Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky speaks in Elizabethtown Ky., in this May 26, 2015, file photo. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley, File)

Senate passes rewrite of No Child Left Behind

Both chambers of Congress have now voted to scrap much of the Bush-era No Child Left Behind education plan, meaning the government will continue to ship billions of dollars to states, but will cut or loosen many of the strings attached to the funding.

July 16, 2015
FILE - In this March 5, 2014, file photo, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore. speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington. In remarks prepared for a Wednesday, Oct. 8, 2014 Senate Finance Committee event in Palo Alto, Calif., Wyden, a leading Senate critic of online surveillance, wants the government to stop spying on phone calls, texts and emails, saying the “digital dragnet” doesn’t make the country safer, and only hurts the U.S. economy. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)

Ron Wyden: No actual fraud in Obamacare fake-enrollee study

An undercover operation that snuck nearly a dozen fake Obamacare enrollees into taxpayer-subsidized plans is proof the administration will pad the law's numbers at any cost, Republicans charged Thursday, although a top Democrat argued the stark findings didn't amount to real fraud.

July 16, 2015
Republican Presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, speaks at the Iowa Faith & Freedom 15th Annual Spring Kick Off, in Waukee, Iowa, Saturday, April 25, 2015. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik) ** FILE **

Ted Cruz and tea partyers: Let the Ex-Im Bank stay dead

Sen. Ted Cruz and other conservatives told GOP leaders Wednesday not to let Congress revive the federal Export-Import Bank, an agency that financed the sale of U.S. goods overseas for decades but is creeping toward a slow death, after lawmakers failed to renew its charter by the June 30 deadline.

July 15, 2015
House Committee on Ways and Means Chairman Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., presides over his committee's hearing on President Barack Obama's health care law implementation and the Health and Human Service's Department fiscal 2016 Budget request, Wednesday, June 10, 2015, on Capitol Hill in Washington. At right Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)

House Republicans want 5-month highway funding extension

Key House Republicans have filed legislation to extend federal highway funding for five months, casting it as a way to keep road projects moving beyond a July 31 deadline while buying enough time to fund the six-year bill that both parties want.

July 14, 2015
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, answers questions during an interview with The Associated Press in his office on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 9, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

House GOP files short-term highway extension

Key House Republicans have posted legislation to extend federal highway funding for five months, casting it as a way to keep road projects moving beyond a July 31 deadline while buying enough time to fund the six-year bill that both parties want.

July 14, 2015
Upon announcing his presidential campaign, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker said he would work with Congress to repeal Obamacare if elected in 2016. (Associated Press)

Scott Walker campaign to repeal Obamacare begins

Led by Gov. Scott Walker, Wisconsin resisted a full embrace of Obamacare, settling instead on a novel approach that kicked some people off Medicaid while using the health subsidies as a way of making sure residents had some avenue to obtain coverage.

July 13, 2015
FILE - In this Nov. 13, 2013, file photo, Rep. Fred Upton, R-Mich., speaks in Washington. Pressed by industry and patients’ groups, the House is nearing approval of a bipartisan bill that would speed federal approval of drugs and medical devices and boost biomedical research. "We have a chance to do something big, and this is our time," said Upton. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

House passes bill to speed up medical cures

The House passed a bill Friday to bolster medical discoveries and speed drugs from the lab to patients, easily overcoming ripples of opposition from both parties.

July 10, 2015
Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx. (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Senate Dems to GOP: What’s your plan to fix crumbling highways?

Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx and Senate Democrats urged Republicans Thursday to reveal their plan for a long-term extension of highway funds, saying the lack of a clear strategy is sowing uncertainty on Capitol Hill and among states that have placed projects on hold.

July 9, 2015
This Jan. 20, 2012, file photo shows a Happy Meal with french fries and a drink at a McDonald's, in Springfield, Ill. (AP Photo/Seth Perlman, File) ** FILE **

FDA delays menu-labeling rules by one year

The Food and Drug Administration said Thursday it will give chain restaurants an extra year to comply with an Obamacare rule requiring chain restaurants to post calorie counts for the foods they sell.

July 9, 2015
Rep. John Kline, R-Minn. speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. (AP Photo/ Evan Vucci, File)

No Child Left Behind rewrite narrowly passes House

House Republicans brushed aside a White House veto threat Wednesday and passed a rewrite of the No Child Left Behind law by just five votes, muscling through an education overhaul that shifts power from the federal government to the states after a legislative false start earlier this year.

July 8, 2015