Tom Howell Jr.

Obama to allies: Cut through ‘political noise’ around health law

President Obama urged thousands of allies Thursday to cut through the "political noise" around his signature health care law and drive people into its web-based exchanges starting Nov. 1, betting consumers will be impressed with their options if they actually log on.

October 27, 2016

Opioid epidemic demands greater access to key medications: Govt. report

Access to medications that help opioid addicts kick the habit isn't keeping pace with the raging prescription painkiller and heroin epidemic that's battering every corner of the U.S., government investigators said Thursday.

October 27, 2016

Americans divided over future of Obamacare once namesake is gone: Poll

American voters are split over the future of Obamacare, according to a poll Thursday that finds roughly equal shares of support for repealing the law versus expanding what it does.

October 27, 2016

Pat Toomey, Joe Heck, Marco Rubio back away from Donald Trump

Sen. Pat Toomey, a Republican locked in a tense re-election battle in Pennsylvania, is now running ads spotlighting disagreements with his party's presidential nominee Donald Trump and personal praise from the Democratic vice presidential nominee.

October 26, 2016

Hillary Clinton ignores Obamacare’s bad news, says repealing law would be counterproductive

Hillary Clinton is trying to ignore the latest bad Obamacare news, hoping to survive through the November election before confronting the first major challenge for the next president: how to save President Obama's health law.

October 25, 2016

Obamacare premiums to rise sharply as choices dwindle, administration confirms

Obamacare premiums will soar in 2017, the administration acknowledged Monday, with the price of the most popular benchmark plans jumping an average of 22 percent as the law continues to rely on older, sicker customers than its backers had envisioned.

October 24, 2016

Donald Trump’s voter fraud concerns overblown, election officials say

Voter fraud has occurred in recent presidential elections, officials in key swing states say, yet its magnitude falls short of the type of systematic cheating that Donald Trump is prophesying.

October 23, 2016

House GOP eyes contempt proceedings over Clinton emails

A Republican House chairman on Thursday said he will move to hold in contempt the Colorado-based firm that Hillary Clinton hired to help run the private email server she used as secretary of state during President Obama's first term.

October 20, 2016

Obama says Obamacare is working, yet needs fixes

President Obama fiercely defended his signature health care law Thursday, saying it has slashed the uninsured rate to historic lows, though he implored his successor and Congress to cure the "growing pains" that have battered the program politically and left millions of uninsured on the sidelines.

October 20, 2016

Nancy Pelosi: Claims of a rigged election ‘beyond the pale’

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday said Donald Trump is "not going to the president of the United States" and that claims of a rigged election are highly irresponsible.

October 19, 2016

HHS expects 13.8M signups under Obamacare, amid challenges

Obamacare's exchanges will attract roughly 1 million more customers than they did last year, administration officials predicted Wednesday, saying they're confident the program will grow in 2017 despite widespread concerns about rising premiums and dwindling consumer choice.

October 19, 2016

Donald Trump, Richard Burr, Pat McCrory in peril as Republicans fight to keep North Carolina

Spread out like a Burma-Shave ad, the message on a trio of roadside signs was jarring but familiar: Lock. Her. Up.

October 17, 2016

Donald Trump gets assist from conservative women as groping accusations threaten campaign

As the presidential race sank into R-rated territory, the wives of three sitting congressmen urged a dozen women sipping iced tea at Darryl's Wood-Fired Grill last week to rise above the fray and get out the vote -- for Donald Trump.

October 16, 2016

Donald Trump within striking distance of Hillary Clinton despite groping allegations

Donald Trump's allies tried their best Sunday to tamp down an eruption of stories accusing the Republican presidential nominee of untoward sexual advances against women, as national polls showed the billionaire businessman still within striking distance of Hillary Clinton after a horrendous week.

October 16, 2016

Mike Pence, GOP vice-presidential nominee: We will ‘absolutely’ accept election results

Mike Pence said his ticket will "absolutely" accept the results of the election, saying any sense of a "rigged" election stems from an avalanche of negative media coverage about Donald Trump.

October 16, 2016

Joe Biden: Donald Trump’s own remarks offer ‘textbook definition of sexual assault’

Joe Biden said Donald Trump suffers from an "instinctive abuse of power" and that his own words give credence to women who have accused him of groping them.

October 16, 2016

Mike Pence: ‘Couldn’t be more proud’ to stand by Donald Trump, despite groping claims

Mike Pence said the media are piling on with "unsubstantiated claims" about Donald Trump's behavior around women and that he "couldn't be more proud" to stand with him.

October 16, 2016

Richard Burr distances Donald Trump in Senate race

Fighting for his political life, Sen. Richard Burr, North Carolina Republican, said he cannot defend Donald Trump's lewd remarks about women but feels the Democratic alternative, Hillary Clinton, is an unacceptable choice for president.

October 13, 2016

Donald Trump throws GOP senators off balance

Vulnerable Senate Republicans are deploying an array of tactics to stanch the down-ballot bleeding from Donald Trump's caught-on-tape remarks about women, from vocal condemnation to pleas to forgive the real estate mogul and focus on Hillary Clinton's weaknesses.

October 12, 2016

Donald Trump, campaign confound foreign press

American voters aren't the only ones scratching their heads over a topsy-turvy presidential race featuring two unpopular candidates. The foreign press appears to be stumped, too, critiquing Republican nominee Donald Trump's latest debate performance as "belligerent" and bemoaning the past few days as a "low point" in U.S. politics.

October 11, 2016