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Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell speaks in Washington on July 28, 2014. (Associated Press) **FILE**

HealthCare.gov grabs 6 million customers

Roughly 6 million people selected a health plan on HealthCare.gov in time to be covered on Jan. 1, the Obama administration said Friday, boasting of a "very strong start" to the Obamacare signup season that outpaces last year's effort to beat a crucial mid-December deadline.

December 18, 2015
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., speaks with reporters after the Senate gave sweeping approval to a year-end budget package that boosts federal agency spending and awards tax cuts to both families and an array of business interests, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 18, 2015. President Obama will sign the measure, which includes many of the spending increases he fought for all year and is largely free of GOP attempts to block his moves on the environment, financial regulation, and consumer protection. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Mitch McConnell takes 2015 victory lap

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell closed out his first year in charge of the Senate with a victory lap Friday, saying bipartisan passage of a spending and tax-relief package caps a productive year in the upper chamber after years of gridlock.

December 18, 2015
House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis. gestures during an end-of-the-year news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 17, 2015, as the Congress moves toward passage of a $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)

Congress passes $1 trillion spending bill, dodges shutdown crisis

Congress cleared a nearly $2 trillion package to fund the government and extend popular tax breaks while increasing the federal deficit by hundreds of billions, angering conservatives even as a host of Republicans linked arms with Democrats to usher the compromise to President Obama's desk and avert a Christmastime crisis.

December 18, 2015
House Rules Committee Chairman Pete Sessions, R-Texas, examines a printout of the $1.1 trillion spending bill to fund the government for the 2016 budget year and extend $680 billion in tax cuts for businesses and individuals, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2015. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the legislation. (Associated Press)

House OKs more than $600B in tax cuts

The House approved a $620 billion deal Thursday that solidifies a laundry list of tax breaks for businesses and families while pausing Obamacare's tax on medical device sales, part of a one-two punch against the overhaul as Congress scrambles to finish its work before the year ends.

December 17, 2015
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. The government's insurance website is faster and easier to use, but as a third sign-up season gets underway, President Barack Obama's health care law is approaching limits. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

HealthCare.gov signups crest 4M as deadline nears

At least 4.1 million people have selected a 2016 health plan on HealthCare.gov, according to an Obamacare update released Wednesday that says more than 1 million people signed up in the last week alone.

December 16, 2015
House Speaker Paul D. Ryan said that while the GOP may not get everything it wants in ongoing budget negotiations to keep the government open, he remains hopeful that the U.S. oil export ban, long on the Republican priority list, can be lifted. (Associated Press)

Congress closes in on budget deal to fund government

Congressional leaders agreed Tuesday to a sweeping deal that would fund the government through October, extend a package of popular tax breaks and lift the decades-old ban on U.S. oil exports -- a key policy win for GOP lawmakers who nonetheless said they didn't get everything they wanted out of the deal.

December 15, 2015
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. The government's insurance website is faster and easier to use, but as a third sign-up season gets underway, President Barack Obama's health care law is approaching limits. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

White House touts Obamacare in year-end push

The administration on Monday told the uninsured to log onto HealthCare.gov and select a plan within 24 hours so they are covered by Jan. 1 and avoid a tax penalty under Obamacare.

December 14, 2015
Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin. (AP Photo/Timothy D. Easley) ** FILE **

7 in 10 Kentuckians want to keep Medicaid expansion

More than 70 percent of Kentuckians don't want Gov.-elect Matt Bevin to scale back the state's Medicaid program, according to a survey released Friday that paints a complex portrait of Obamacare politics as the Republican takes charge.

December 11, 2015

Congress rushes to pass spending extension to avert shutdown

The White House practically dared congressional Republicans Thursday to shut down the government over "ideologically motivated" proposals they want to attach to a must-pass government spending bill, even as President Obama's Democratic allies roiled the delicate talks by demanding an end to a ban on federal research into the causes of gun violence.

December 10, 2015
At a news conference following a closed-door GOP caucus meeting, Speaker of the House Paul Ryan, R-Wis., dismisses Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump's comments on Muslims, saying such views are "not what this party stands for and more importantly it's not what this country stands for," at the Republican National Headquarters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Tuesday, Dec. 8, 2015. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Paul Ryan downplays hiccups in funding talks

House Speaker Paul D. Ryan insisted Thursday that an ever-slipping deadline to fund the government and avert a Christmastime shutdown is the byproduct of attempts to "get it right" before a looming holiday break.

December 10, 2015