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** FILE ** House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican, speaks about the 2014 Budget Resolution during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on March 12, 2013. (Associated Press)

Paul Ryan introduces GOP budget, sees balance in decade

House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan proposed a budget Tuesday that he said can cut $4.6 trillion and bring federal finances to balance in 10 years, calling the plan an "invitation" to find common ground with President Obama and congressional Democrats.

March 12, 2013
** FILE ** Rep. Paul Ryan, Wisconsin Republican

Spending bill gives GOP opening to kill health law

This month's must-pass spending bill gives the GOP another opportunity to try to kill President Obama's health care law, but most Republican leaders are shying away from that, saying it's not worth going to the brink of a shutdown over the 3-year-old law.

March 11, 2013
** FILE ** President Obama signs the health care reform bill in the East Room of the White House in Washington on March 23, 2010, as Marcelas Owens (left), 11, of Seattle and Rep. John D. Dingell (right), Michigan Democrat, look on. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

GOP bill exempts religious nonprofits, business owners from contraception mandate

A trio of House Republicans introduced a bill Tuesday that protects religious nonprofits and devout business owners from a provision in President Obama's health care law that requires them to insure contraception for their employees, a mandate they view as an attack on the "bedrock principle" of religious freedom.

March 5, 2013

Study adds fuel to fire in push for entitlement reform

The push to reform federal payments to doctors who treat Medicare patients picked up steam Monday when physicians released a study arguing that halting unneeded services could save hundreds of billions of dollars.

March 4, 2013

States cook up own takes on Obamacare

States have scant precedent to rely on as they shape the twin pillars of President Obama's health care law, an uncertainty that has resulted in what one Iowa official described as 50 discrete "laboratories."

March 4, 2013

Governors using Obamacare in Medicaid talks

Governors are increasingly embracing a key part of President Obama's health law by expanding their Medicaid programs — but they are using the law as a bargaining chip to try to win more flexibility for how they run their own state programs.

February 28, 2013
** FILE ** Rep. Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Republican, is chairman of the House Judiciary Committee. (Associated Press)

House refuses Obama’s demand to rush immigration reform

The chairman of the House Judiciary Committee laid out a go-slow approach on immigration Wednesday, saying he doesn't think having President Obama write a bill and demand that Congress vote on it would be successful.

February 27, 2013
** FILE ** Tea party supporter William Temple of Brunswick, Ga., protests President Obama's health care law outside the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington on Thursday, June 28, 2012. (AP Photo/David Goldman)

Looking for budget cuts? GOP suggests checking out Obamacare

Republican lawmakers say the costs of implementing President Obama's health care law represent a ripe target for money-saving cuts, as Congress fights over the best way to avert an automatic and indiscriminate budget ax set to come down Friday.

February 27, 2013
President Obama speaks at the unveiling of a statue of Rosa Parks on Feb. 27, 2013, on Capitol Hill in Washington. (Associated Press)

Obama, Hill leaders unveil Rosa Parks statue

President Obama and leaders of Congress dedicated a statue of civil-rights hero Rosa Parks on Wednesday in a moving ceremony at the U.S. Capitol, marking the first time a black woman has been honored with a place in National Statuary Hall.

February 27, 2013
Attorneys General Tim Fox (left) of Montana, Patrick Morrisey (center) of West Virginia and John W. Suthers of Colorado said Tuesday that the Obama administration has undermined their authority by failing to lead on issues that require states to cede to federal supremacy. (Andrew S. Geraci/The Washington Times)

Republican attorneys general see Obama misuse of power

Top Republican legal officials say the Obama administration is reneging on key duties such as border security while overstepping its role through health care mandates and tight regulation of the energy industry, a trend that has led states to heighten their defenses against federal intrusion.

February 26, 2013
** FILE ** In this Jan. 7, 2013, file photo, President Barack Obama shakes hands with Defense Secretary-nominee, former Nebraska Sen. Chuck Hagel, in the East Room of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais. File)

Richard Shelby’s switch has Chuck Hagel on verge of confirmation

Republican Sen. Richard C. Shelby said Thursday he will support Chuck Hagel's bid to become secretary of defense, nudging the contentious pick to the verge of confirmation even as 15 Republicans senators were urging President Obama to abandon his pick to run the Pentagon.

February 21, 2013
Florida Gov. Rick Scott (Associated Press)

Fla. Gov. Scott will expand Fla. Medicaid program

Florida Gov. Rick Scott on Wednesday became the latest Republican to green-light the expansion of Medicaid under the President Obama's health-care law, a move that follows in the footsteps of other state leaders who opposed the president's reforms and then accepted federal dollars to insure more low-income residents.

February 20, 2013
**FILE** Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican (Associated Press)

GOP lawmakers join legal fight against Obama contraception mandate

Eleven Republican members of Congress are challenging the contraception insurance mandate in President Obama's health care law by formally backing Hobby Lobby, the Oklahoma-based chain of crafts stores whose owners say they must choose between their Christian beliefs and insuring women's birth control and other preventative services.

February 20, 2013

Nonprofits take contraception issue to court

Religious nonprofits have begun to respond in court to the plan the Obama administration offered this month to shelter them from a mandate requiring certain employers to insure contraception — and it's probably not what the White House wanted to hear.

February 19, 2013
Thomas Monaghan founded Ave Maria University near Naples, Fla., which has been granted flexibility from the Obama administration in regards to contraceptive insurance coverage. (Associated Press)

Obamacare and birth control: Religious ties split coverage

Religious employers battling the Obama administration in court over a mandate in the president's health care law requiring them to offer contraceptive and birth control insurance to their employees could summarize their arguments neatly by pointing to the founder of Domino's Pizza.

February 18, 2013