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Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

Caio Julio Vasconcelos who was born with microcephaly undergoes physical therapy at the Institute for the Blind in Joao Pessoa, Brazil, Thursday, Feb. 25, 2016. Researchers from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention continue to fan out across one of Brazil's poorest states in search of mothers and infants for a study aimed at determining whether the Zika virus is causing babies to be born with unusually small heads. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

GOP to U.N.: Don’t use Zika outbreak to loosen abortion laws

The Zika virus isn't transmitting within the U.S., but pregnant women who contracted the virus elsewhere had abortions or miscarriages upon their return, scientists reported Friday, signaling the virus is striking close to home even as congressional Republicans warned the United Nations not to let "opportunistic" advocates roll back abortion laws abroad.

February 26, 2016
FILE - In this Wednesday, July 29, file 2015 photo, the Puerto Rican flag flies in front of Puerto Rico’s Capitol as in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Legislators in Puerto Rico have approved on Monday, Feb. 15, 2016, a last-minute bill needed to finalize a deal to restructure the U.S. territory's heavily indebted public power company. (AP Photo/Ricardo Arduengo, File)

Puerto Rico fiscal crisis requires a two-step solution, Treasury Dept. says

Congress should let Puerto Rico restructure its crippling debt but should impose strict new federal oversight to make sure the island territory doesn't backslide on its budget cuts, the Obama administration said Thursday, trying to figure a way out of a thorny political impasse.

February 25, 2016
Sen. David Vitter, R-La., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington, in this Aug. 3, 2010, file photo. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta, File)

David Vitter holds OPM nominee as part of Obamacare probe

Sen. David Vitter followed through Thursday on his threat to hold up President Obama's pick to lead the government's personnel office, saying he still doesn't understand why Congress was granted small-business status that "exempted" it from Obamacare, even though it employs thousands.

February 25, 2016
FILE - In this Oct. 6, 2015, file photo, the HealthCare.gov website, where people can buy health insurance, is displayed on a laptop screen in Washington. Congressional investigators say the Obama administration has taken a "passive" approach to identifying potential fraud involving the president’s health care law. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

HHS: We’re cracking down on offseason Obamacare signups

The Obama administration said Wednesday it is taking steps to prevent misuse and abuse of special enrollment periods that allow Obamacare customers in 38 states to get covered on HealthCare.gov outside of the traditional signup period.

February 24, 2016
Janine Santos holds her 3-month-old son Shayde Henrique who was born with microcephaly while health workers visit her home in Joao Pessoa, Brazil, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016. U.S. and Brazilian health workers knocked on doors in the poorest neighborhoods of one of Brazil's poorest states Tuesday in a bid to enroll mothers in a study aimed at determining whether the Zika virus is really causing a surge in birth defects. The teams started in Joao Pessoa, the capital of Paraiba state which is one of the epicenters of Brazil's tandem Zika and microcephaly outbreaks. (AP Photo/Andre Penner)

Senators lobby for proactive stance against global health scares

The Ebola outbreak's aftermath and the creeping threat of Zika virus underscore the need to fund basic research and gird for epidemics before they hit, members of Congress said Wednesday, signaling they are weary of emergency funding requests to deal with global health scares.

February 24, 2016
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Ky. walks to a closed-door GOP policy lunch on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016. Senate Republicans, most vocally Senator McConnell, are facing a high-stakes political showdown with President Barack Obama sparked by the recent death of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Republicans controlling the Senate — which must confirm any Obama appointee before the individual is seated on the court — say that the decision is too important to be determined by a lame-duck president. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Mitch McConnell: No hearings on Obama’s Supreme Court pick

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Tuesday there is no way that Republicans will take up President Obama's pick to fill the Supreme Court, citing an election that's already underway and Vice President Joseph Biden's decades-old protest against campaign season nominees.

February 23, 2016
Sen. Chris Coons, Delaware Democrat, is seen in Wilmington, Del., on Nov. 6, 2012. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Chris Coons: Supreme Court pick is chance to heal Senate

Sen. Chris Coons said Tuesday the battle over replacing late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is a chance to reverse the steady creep of partisan acrimony in the august chamber, one day after Republicans made the man he replaced -- Vice President Joseph P. Biden -- an unwitting guide for how the Senate should approach nominations in a pivotal election year.

February 23, 2016
The Senate voted on Monday to advance the nomination Dr. Robert Califf, President Obama's pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration. (Associated Press)

Robert Califf, Obama nominee for FDA chief, advanced by Senate

President Obama's pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration inched closer to confirmation late Monday, despite loud protests from Senate Democrats who said the agency needs a crusader who will rein in and regulate prescription painkillers that are feeding the nation's heroin epidemic.

February 22, 2016
Limb Haparai, a researcher at Indiana University School of Medicine-South Bend, puts his hand inside a container filled with mosquitos on Thursday, Feb. 18, 2016, at the Indiana University School of Medicine-South Bend in South Bend, Ind. The latex glove that Limb is wearing protects him for any mosquito bites. (Robert Franklin/South Bend Tribune via AP)

Zika virus: White House demands new resources

The White House budget chief told Congress Monday that President Obama would like to free up some, but not all, of the leftover money from the Ebola fight to combat the Zika virus, which has been linked to birth defects in Latin America.

February 22, 2016
Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W. Va., center, accompanied by Sen. Edward J. Markey, D-Mass., right, and Rodney Miller of the West Virginia Sheriffs’ Association, talks about the problem of over-prescribed and under-regulated opioid pain medicines and their opposition to the nomination of Dr. Robert Califf to run the Food and Drug Administration, Monday, Feb. 22, 2016, during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington. While calling Dr. Califf “a good man,” Manchin said Califf has too many ties to the pharmaceutical industry to properly deal with the prescription opioid abuse crisis in this country. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Democrats protest Obama’s pick to lead FDA

President Obama's pick to lead the Food and Drug Administration cannot be trusted to rein in and regulate prescription painkillers at the heart of a deadly U.S. epidemic, a pair of Senate Democrats said Monday, leveraging a floor vote on the nominee to elevate their fight against opioid and heroin abuse.

February 22, 2016
Rep. Harold Rogers, chair of the House Appropriations Committee, said President Obama should use unspent Ebola funds to fight the Zika virus. (Associated Press)

Zika virus funds should be diverted from Ebola response moneys: GOP

Powerful House Republicans told the Obama administration Thursday to use leftover funds from the Ebola fight to address the spread of Zika virus, saying it is the fastest way to respond to the latest global health scare and that Congress can replace the money later on, if needed.

February 18, 2016
In this Thursday, Oct. 16, 2014, photo released by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, U.S. Coast Guard Health Technician Nathan Wallenmeyer, left, and CBP supervisor Sam Ko conduct prescreening measures on a passenger, right, who arrived from Sierra Leone at O'Hare International Airport's Terminal 5 in Chicago. Canada has joined Australia in suspending entry visas for people from Ebola-stricken countries in West Africa in an attempt to keep the deadly disease away. Canada's Conservative government said Friday, Oct. 31, 2014, it is suspending visa applications for residents and nationals of countries with "widespread and persistent-intense transmission" of Ebola virus disease. (AP Photo/U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Melissa Maraj, File) **FILE**

U.S. ends Ebola screening at major airports

The Department of Homeland Security said Thursday it will no longer screen travelers for Ebola, now that West Africa is considered to be free of the virus.

February 18, 2016
Surrounded by soldiers, a government health agent uses larvicide to kill Aedes aegypti mosquitos that spreads the Zika virus in the Tijuca neighborhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Monday, Feb. 15, 2016. The Aedes aegypti mosquito lives largely inside homes and can lay eggs in even a bottle-cap's worth of stagnant water. The dishes beneath potted plants are a favorite spot, as are abandoned tires, bird feeders and even the little puddles of rainwater that collect in the folds of plastic tarps. (AP Photo/Silvia Izquierdo)

House GOP to Obama: Use leftover Ebola funds to fight Zika

Powerful House Republicans told the Obama administration Thursday to use leftover funds from the Ebola fight to address the spread of Zika virus, saying it is the best way to mount a swift response to the new epidemic and that Congress could replace the money later on, if needed.

February 18, 2016
This is a Thursday, Feb. 11, 2016, file photo of aedes aegypti mosquitoes in a mosquito cage at a laboratory in Cucuta, Colombia. The World Health Organization says it may be necessary to use controversial methods like genetically modified mosquitoes to wipe out the insects that are spreading the Zika virus across the Americas. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan, File)

World Bank extends $150 million for Zika fight

The World Bank Group announced Thursday it will extend $150 million in financing to Latin American and Caribbean nations affected by the Zika virus, a mosquito-borne disease that's been linked to a serious birth defect and is estimated to have only a "moderate" economic impact in the short term.

February 18, 2016