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Articles by Paige Winfield Cunningham

**FILE** Rep. Peter T. King, New York Republican (Associated Press)

Lawmakers: Probe, punish ‘bomb’ leak

Congressional lawmakers called Sunday for a criminal investigation over the leak revealing that the so-called "underwear bomber" who boarded a U.S.-bound jet last month was actually a Saudi Arabian intelligence agent who had volunteered for the mission, warning that the leak could seriously damage American credibility.

May 13, 2012
Sen. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana exits after delivering his GOP primary concession speech in Indianapolis on Tuesday night. The 80-year-old Republican was defeated in his bid for a seventh six-year term, to the delight of many tea party activists. (Associated Press)

Senators stunned by defeat of Lugar in Indiana primary

One day after the stunning defeat of six-term Sen. Richard G. Lugar in Indiana's GOP primary by tea party favorite Richard Mourdock, Democrats in Washington publicly mourned the veteran lawmaker's loss, while Republicans, for the most part, didn't want to talk about it.

May 9, 2012
Grady Luebbert reacts after being asked a question by Indiana state Treasurer Richard Mourdock at a voting precinct Tuesday in Avon, Ind. Backed by tea party activists, Mr. Mourdock toppled six-term Sen. Richard G. Lugar in the Republican Senate primary. (Associated Press)

Tea party favorite topples Lugar, Indiana’s 6-term senator

Tea-party-backed candidate Richard Mourdock defeated longtime Sen. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana in Tuesday's GOP primary, ending the career of one of the chamber's two senior Republicans and giving Democrats a better chance at capturing the seat in November.

May 8, 2012
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer speaks to reporters outside the Supreme Court in Washington, Wednesday, April 25, 2012, after the court's hearing on Arizona's "show me your papers" immigration law. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)

GOP foiled as funds flow to Planned Parenthood

Newly empowered Republicans in states across the country are pushing to kill public contracts with Planned Parenthood, only to find their efforts blocked by the Obama administration and federal courts.

May 7, 2012

Insurers back FDA plan for new drug category

Health insurers gave a tentative thumbs-up Monday to the Food and Drug Administration's proposal to make drugs treating chronic conditions available without a prescription by classifying them in an all-new category.

May 7, 2012
Six-term Sen. Richard G. Lugar (left), Indiana Republican, debated state Treasurer Richard Mourdock in April during the political fight of his life. The Indiana primary is set for Tuesday. (Associated Press)

Republican conservatives in Indiana gunning for Lugar

Tea party sympathizers continue shelling Sen. Richard G. Lugar of Indiana as they work to defeat him in next week's primary, which is shaping up as the premier chance for the political movement to capture a senior Republican scalp in this year's elections.

May 2, 2012
Rep. Dave Camp, Michigan Republican, is chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee. (Associated Press)

GOP: Bosses could pay fine, drop health insurance

Trying to build their case that President Obama's health care law will destroy traditional employer-sponsored insurance, House Republicans released a study Tuesday showing that the largest companies could save billions by kicking workers off their current health plans and pushing them into government-subsidized exchanges.

May 1, 2012

Closing Part D hole saved seniors $3.4B

Highlighting a top selling point of President Obama's health care overhaul, his administration said Monday that seniors have saved $3.4 billion on prescription drugs as the law begins to close the "doughnut hole" in Medicare's drug coverage scheme.

April 30, 2012
**FILE** Susan Prather, a family nurse practitioner, speaks with Edward Smith, a diabetic, about his medications at the Good Samaritan Health Center in Greenville, Miss. (The Washington Times)

FDA may let patients buy drugs without prescriptions

In a move that could help the government trim its burgeoning health care costs, the Food and Drug Administration may soon permit Americans to obtain some drugs used to treat conditions such as high blood pressure and diabetes without obtaining a prescription.

April 29, 2012
Sen. Susan M. Collins, Maine Republican, sponsored the Postal Service bill considered Wednesday with Sens. Joe Lieberman, Connecticut independent, Scott Brown, Massachusetts Republican, and Thomas R. Carper, Delaware Democrat. (Associated Press)

Senate allows closing of post offices to cut costs

The Senate passed an overhaul of the U.S. Postal Service Wednesday that clears the way for closing hundreds of post offices nationwide, and lawmakers didn't spare themselves from the pain, agreeing to close five of the seven offices contained in the Capitol complex.

April 25, 2012
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch, Utah Republican

GAO says Medicare bonuses are bogus

Federal investigators said Monday that the administration is wasting billions on extra bonuses for health plans and should cancel them right away, fueling Republican complaints that President Obama is trying to postpone his health care law's unpopular Medicare cuts until after the election.

April 23, 2012
**FILE** House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican, speaks on April 13, 2012, at the National Rifle Association convention in St. Louis. (Associated Press)

House GOP pushes small-business tax cut

In a display of election-year bravado, the House approved a short-term $46 billion tax cut on Thursday that would affect virtually every business in America but faces near-certain rejection by Senate Democrats.

April 19, 2012
**FILE** House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, Virginia Republican (Associated Press)

After partisan battle, House approves business tax cut

In a display of election-year bravado, the House approved a short-term $46 billion tax cut on Thursday that would affect virtually every business in America but faces near-certain rejection by Senate Democrats.

April 19, 2012

Senate takes up financial problems of Postal Service

The Senate agreed Tuesday to begin debating a broad plan to put the flailing U.S. Postal Service on firmer financial footing but limit the postmaster general's own proposal to close post offices and cut Saturday delivery service.

April 17, 2012
**FILE** Jeffrey Neely, the central figure in a General Services Administration spending scandal, sits at the witness table as the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform investigates wasteful spending and excesses by GSA during a 2010 Las Vegas conference, on Capitol Hill in Washington, Monday, April 16, 2012. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Officials offer mea culpa for GSA retreat

Federal officials involved in a spending scandal over an extravagant retreat in Las Vegas apologized Monday, and the chief organizer asserted his right to remain silent as they were grilled by House lawmakers over the $823,000 junket for the General Services Administration.

April 16, 2012
**FILE** Former General Services Administration chief Martha Johnson resigned after her agency spent lavishly at a training conference for federal workers in Henderson, Nev., near Las Vegas. (Associated Press)

House members demand answers over taxpayer-funded parties

Extracting shaken apologies from officials involved in a recent scandal where federal workers partied in Las Vegas on taxpayer dollars, House lawmakers grilled them Monday on why they let the misspending go on for months while awarding a hefty bonus to the rendezvous' organizer.

April 16, 2012
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman David Camp, Michigan Republican, has asked the IRS to specify how it will use a half-billion dollars it's getting to implement the new health care law. Republicans are revamping their strategy against Obamacare. (Associated Press)

GOP fighting big bucks for Obamacare

After successfully blocking funding for the IRS to implement President Obama's health care law last year, Republicans recoiled at news this week that the administration is filtering a half-billion dollars to the agency so it can hire more agents to carry out the law's new requirements.

April 11, 2012
President Obama signs the health care bill in the White House on March 23, 2010. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Report: Health care law may grow deficit $540B

Stirring up an old fight over whether President Obama's health care overhaul will ease or exacerbate the government's deficit, a Republican expert on benefit programs said Tuesday that the law will add billions more to the debt than projected.

April 10, 2012