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Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

Chairman Rep. Ed Royce, R-Calif. speaks during a House Rules full committee meeting on the Iran nuclear program deal in Washington, Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015. (AP Photo/Molly Riley)

House GOP rejects Iran deal, votes to extend sanctions

The House voted Friday to extend American sanctions on Iran until January and went on record rejecting the deal President Obama and other international leaders reached to curtail the Islamic Republic's nuclear program, in votes more freighted with symbolism than effect at this point.

September 11, 2015
FILE - In this Nov. 12, 2014 file photo, the HealthCare.gov website, where people can buy health insurance, is displayed on a laptop screen, in Portland, Ore. Sign-up season for President Barack Obama’s health care law doesn’t start for another couple of months, but the next few days are crucial for hundreds of thousands of customers who risk losing financial aid when they renew for 2016. (AP Photo/Don Ryan, File)

HHS: 9.9M still paying for Obamacare coverage

The administration counted 9.9 million paying customers on Obamacare's exchanges as of June 30, according to an enrollment update Tuesday that showed a net drop of 300,000 customers since the end of March due to nonpayment, citizenship or immigration problems or because they got covered elsewhere.

September 8, 2015
U.S. health authorities have worked feverishly with drug companies to come up with an Ebola vaccine after last year's outbreak. (Associated Press)

Ebola vaccine studies progress as marketing quells suspicions of modern medicine

Ebola had just killed thousands of people in Liberia, and the U.S.-backed pitch to sign locals up for a vaccine trial must have seemed like a tough sell: Take part of the very virus that had devastated the region, combine it with a separate, harmless virus, and inject it into volunteers with the hope they develop Ebola antibodies.

September 7, 2015
Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

Manufacturers to push to revive Ex-Im charter

U.S. manufacturers say they're starting to feel the pain from Congress' decision to let the federal Export-Import Bank's charter lapse in June, and are planning to mount a push to revive the obscure, controversial agency when lawmakers return next week.

September 7, 2015
"Improving bridges, roads and our infrastructure is critical to our economy, but we're going to need time for the House committees to do their work," Speaker John A. Boehner said before the chamber voted to keep road projects moving through Oct. 29 and to fill a $3.3 billion budget hole at the Department of Veterans Affairs. (Associated Press)

Education reform bill nears completion

House and Senate lawmakers hoping to avert a government shutdown, pass a long-term highway bill and vote on Iran's nuclear ambitions this fall are squeezing in another item that has bedeviled Congress for years -- settling on a bipartisan rewrite of the No Child Left Behind education law that can win over the White House.

September 2, 2015
Tori Reichelderfer, 17, shows her support as Planned Parenthood Action Council holds a community rally at the state Capitol in Salt Lake City on Aug. 25, 2015. Planned Parenthood Association of Utah CEO Karrie Galloway says the demonstration is a protest against Gov. Gary Herbert's decision to stop disbursing federal money to Planned Parenthood. (Leah Hogsten/The Salt Lake Tribune via AP) **FILE**

Planned Parenthood chapters among those receiving new Obamacare grants

The Obama administration announced more than $1 million in grants Wednesday to Planned Parenthood, banking on the women's health care provider to help sell Obamacare to patients and defying congressional Republicans battling to end all public funding for the organization.

September 2, 2015
Alaska Gov. Bill Walker will hitch a ride aboard Air Force One with President Obama on Monday — with his talking points ready. (Associated Press)

Alaska Medicaid expansion can move forward, judge says

The Alaska Supreme Court rejected a request by state lawmakers' Monday to thwart Gov. Bill Walker's unilateral plan to extend Medicaid benefits to tens of thousands of previously ineligible state residents.

August 31, 2015
March for Life holds a rally and march each year to protest the Supreme Court's landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that declared a constitutional right to abortion. (Associated Press Photo/File)

Federal judge shields March for Life from Obamacare birth-control rules

A federal judge Monday blocked the Obama administration from enforcing its birth-control mandate on March for Life, a secular nonprofit, saying the anti-abortion group met the same criteria for an exemption as houses of worship that do not have to comply with the Obamacare rule.

August 31, 2015
Pediatrician Charles Goodman vaccinates 1-year-old Cameron Fierro with the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, or MMR vaccine, at his practice in Northridge, Calif., on Jan. 29, 2015. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Vaccination rates still high after Disneyland outbreak sparked debate: CDC

Months after a Disneyland measles outbreak cast a harsh light on the "anti-vaxx" movement, the Obama administration said Thursday that childhood vaccination rates remain high across the country and that less than 2 percent of kindergarteners were exempt from the shot requirements for the 2014-2015 school year.

August 27, 2015
Legal analysts say it's hardly surprising that President Obama — a lame-duck who has leaned on his own powers to move his domestic agenda — finds himself at the mercy of the courts. (Associated Press)

Obama agenda and legacy in the hands of federal judges

A federal judge in Texas has put President Obama's deportation amnesty on hold, while another judge in the District of Columbia is poised to rule any day now on whether the House can sue to stop parts of the administration's Obamacare spending.

August 26, 2015