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Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., who leads a conservative faction of lawmakers in the Republican Study Committee, speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 19, 2014, after the House Republican Conference elected him to be the new House majority whip, replacing current whip Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who was elevated to majority leader. Scalise was in a three-way race with Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., and Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) **FILE**

GOP takes aim at funding for Basic Health Program

House Republicans suing President Obama on claims he funded an Obamacare program without their permission now say the administration is sending millions out the door for a second, optional state program without asking Congress for the money first.

June 14, 2015
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 10, 2015, before the House Ways and Means Committee hearing on President Obama's health care law. Burwell said it will be up to Congress and the states to decide what to do should the Supreme Court annul federal subsidies that are a cornerstone of Obama's health care law. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Sylvia Mathews Burwell: ‘Time to move on’ if admin wins Obamacare case

Before a receptive audience, President Obama's top health official said Thursday she looks forward to a debate "on the substance, not the politics," of health reform if the Supreme Court sides with the administration this month in a ruling that could make or break Obamacare in dozens of states.

June 11, 2015
President Barack Obama speaks at the Catholic Hospital Association Conference about healthcare reform, Tuesday, June 9, 2015, at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Obamacare now ‘reality’ as Supreme Court decision looms, president says

Weeks before a major Supreme Court ruling that could kneecap his signature achievement, President Obama defended his health overhaul Tuesday as an historic achievement that will lift up millions for years to come, dismissing its steady stream of political and legal headwinds as stubborn attempts to "ignore reality."

June 9, 2015
The U.S. Supreme Court will rule on a challenge to President Obama's health care overhaul that could affect consumers in more than 30 states. (AP Photo)

Obamacare subsidy court ruling shakes Pennsylvania, Delaware, not other states

More than 30 of states face the loss of federal health care subsidies should the Supreme Court rule against the Obama administration this month, but only two -- Pennsylvania and Delaware -- have signaled that they are considering further embracing Obamacare in a bid to head off the effects of the ruling.

June 8, 2015
Demonstrators chant during health care rally outside the Supreme Court in Washington on March 4, 2015. The Supreme Court could wipe away health insurance for millions of Americans when it resolves the latest high court fight over President Obama's health overhaul. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Obamacare still unpopular, but still wanted: poll

A majority of people say the Supreme Court shouldn't gut Obamacare this month by striking down subsidies in more than 30 states that use the federal Healthcare.gov website, according to a new poll that nonetheless finds support for the law itself waning.

June 8, 2015
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky speaks to the media during a news conference following a Senate policy luncheon on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, June 2, 2015. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik) ** FILE **

Obamacare repeal deadline set by GOP

Top GOP lawmakers in Congress have given themselves seven weeks to turn a powerful, if limited and unwieldy, budget tool into a long-sought bill to repeal Obamacare.

June 7, 2015
President Obama makes a statement to reporters as Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky looks on after a meeting regarding the BP Deepwater Horizon in the Cabinet Room at the White House in Washington on June 10, 2010. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Senate formally begins process to repeal Obamacare

The Senate Budget Committee sent formal instructions Friday to committees tasked with leveraging a fast-track budget tool to chalk up a major, if symbolic, GOP victory: the repeal of Obamacare.

June 5, 2015
Republican presidential candidate Sen. Ted Cruz speaks at the Third Annual Champions of Jewish Values International Awards Gala after receiving a Defender of Israel award Thursday, May 28, 2015, in New York. (AP Photo/Julie Jacobson) ** FILE **

Ted Cruz: Empty witness table shows contempt for Americans

Sen. Ted Cruz blasted the Obama administration Thursday for refusing to let Treasury officials testify on how they interpreted the subsidy portion of Obamacare, a topic at the heart of a major Supreme Court decision due this month.

June 4, 2015
Texas Republican Rep. Bill Flores. (Associated Press/Waco Tribune Herald/Jerry Larson) ** FILE **

GOP offers another Obamacare alternative

House conservatives unveiled another alternative to Obamacare Thursday, insisting market-oriented changes are better than the 2010 law's mandates and subsidies as Republicans try to coalesce around a permanent replacement.

June 4, 2015
In this photo taken on Tuesday, May 5, 2015, Guy Lindblom picks unnecessary leaves from mature cannabis plants so they can concentrate more of their energy into the flowering buds where the medicinal chemicals are produced at a greenhouse in Otsego, Minn. The crop is coming in at Minnesota Medical Solutions, one of two manufacturers who will be supplying the state's medical marijuana. (AP Photo,Star Tribune,Glen Stubbe, File)

House votes to shield medical marijuana users from feds

The House voted Wednesday to ban federal drug agents from pursuing people who use medicinal marijuana where its legal, although a parallel and unprecedented effort to shield all state pot laws fell short by just 16 votes.

June 3, 2015
President Barack Obama gets ready to sign the "I Love Obamacare" cast of Cathey Park of Cambridge, Mass., after he spoke at Boston's historic Faneuil Hall about the federal health care law, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013. Faneuil Hall is where former Massachusetts Republican Gov. Mitt Romney, Obama's rival in the 2012 presidential election, signed the state's landmark health care law in 2006, with top Democrats standing by his side. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

Insurers seek hefty rate hikes ahead of Obamacare’s third year

Insurers are planning double-digit rate hikes ahead of Obamacare's third year, eliciting a told-you-so outcry from the law's opponents who said the health law is to blame for boosting the price of care and forcing those costs onto consumers.

June 2, 2015
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell speaks in Washington in this July 28, 2014, file photo. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh, File)

HHS: 10 million have paid Obamacare premiums

About 6.4 million people could lose their Obamacare subsidies if the Supreme Court rules against the administration later this month, according to an official update Tuesday that said more than 10 million Americans had effectuated their coverage by paying their premiums through the end of March.

June 2, 2015
House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy of California speaks during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 24, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Kevin McCarthy to Senate: Just send our Patriot Act rewrite to Obama

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told the Senate Monday to swiftly take up and pass a bipartisan rewrite of the Patriot Act that extends major snooping powers while curtailing its controversial record-collection provision, saying he has a "real concern for the safety of the U.S." after persistent roadblocks in the upper chamber allowed key anti-terror tools to expire.

June 1, 2015