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Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

The White House this week once again is zeroing in on climate change, a top priority for President Obama during his final 18 months in office. (Associated Press)

Obamacare foes cautioned about full repeal

Obamacare stretches into much of the U.S. economy, and outright repealing it, as Republicans are gearing up to try one last time, would be a tricky proposition, according to the latest estimates from Congress' official scorekeeper.

June 21, 2015
Rep. Tom Price, R-Ga., speaks on Capitol Hill in Washington in this June 4, 2013, file photo. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

House votes to repeal medical device tax

The House voted Thursday to repeal Obamacare's tax on medical devices, setting the stage for a legislative tweak to the contentious health law that could actually make it through Congress.

June 18, 2015
Rep. Charles Boustany, Lousiana Republican (Associated Press)

House GOP offers plan to deal with Obamacare ruling

House Republicans pushed a plan Wednesday to extend Obamacare's subsidies for the rest of the year if the Supreme Court this month says dozens of states are no longer eligible for the tax credits that have helped millions afford insurance under the law.

June 17, 2015
People display a representation of the Liberian flag as they celebrate Liberia being an Ebola free nation in Monrovia, Liberia, Monday, May 11, 2015. Liberians are gathering in the streets of the capital to celebrate the end of the Ebola epidemic in this West African country. Monday's festivities come after the World Health Organization declared over the weekend that Liberia was finally Ebola-free. (AP Photo/ Abbas Dulleh)

NIH teams with Liberia for study of Ebola survivors

The U.S. government is teaming up with Liberia to find out what happens to Ebola survivors in the long run, studying whether previously infected persons can transmit the deadly virus through close or sexual contact and if they've built enough immunity to thwart future infection.

June 17, 2015
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, Florida Republican, has raised concerns about the U.S.' ability to conduct large-scale reconstruction efforts. (Associated Press)

Loss of Obamacare subsidies would hit the South hardest

Obamacare supporters got personal Tuesday, targeting congressional Republicans whose districts would stand to lose the most if the Supreme Court rules later this month that the administration has been breaking the law in paying part of residents' health insurance costs.

June 16, 2015
House Oversight Committee member Rep. Thomas Massie, Kentucky Republican (Associated Press) ** FILE **

Patent-reform bill hit from both sides of the aisle

A reform bill aimed at cracking down on so-called "patent trolls" is being rushed through the House without adequate debate on what it could do to smaller inventors, a bipartisan group of lawmakers said Tuesday.

June 16, 2015
Paul Ryan Associated Press photo

House set to repeal Obamacare tax on medical devices

The GOP-led House is set to repeal Obamacare's medical device tax this week, forcing Democrats either to stand by President Obama's signature law at all costs or side with industry groups who say the tax on pacemakers, artificial joints and other products is a job killer that stifles innovation.

June 15, 2015
"I think it is the time to move on," Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Mathews Burwell told members of Enroll America, a nonprofit that drives customers into the Obamacare marketplace. (Associated Press)

Supreme Court’s Obama subsidies ruling final health law showdown, Democrats say

President Obama and his top aides are increasingly portraying this month's Supreme Court ruling on Obamacare subsidies as the final showdown for the health care law, saying that if the justices rule in their favor it should be the signal for Republicans to give up their attacks and move on to other fights.

June 14, 2015
Rep. Steve Scalise, R-La., who leads a conservative faction of lawmakers in the Republican Study Committee, speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill in Washington, Thursday, June 19, 2014, after the House Republican Conference elected him to be the new House majority whip, replacing current whip Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., who was elevated to majority leader. Scalise was in a three-way race with Rep. Peter Roskam, R-Ill., and Rep. Marlin Stutzman, R-Ind. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite) **FILE**

GOP takes aim at funding for Basic Health Program

House Republicans suing President Obama on claims he funded an Obamacare program without their permission now say the administration is sending millions out the door for a second, optional state program without asking Congress for the money first.

June 14, 2015
Health and Human Services Secretary Sylvia Burwell testifies on Capitol Hill in Washington on June 10, 2015, before the House Ways and Means Committee hearing on President Obama's health care law. Burwell said it will be up to Congress and the states to decide what to do should the Supreme Court annul federal subsidies that are a cornerstone of Obama's health care law. (Associated Press) **FILE**

Sylvia Mathews Burwell: ‘Time to move on’ if admin wins Obamacare case

Before a receptive audience, President Obama's top health official said Thursday she looks forward to a debate "on the substance, not the politics," of health reform if the Supreme Court sides with the administration this month in a ruling that could make or break Obamacare in dozens of states.

June 11, 2015
President Barack Obama speaks at the Catholic Hospital Association Conference about healthcare reform, Tuesday, June 9, 2015, at the Washington Marriott Wardman Park in Washington. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Obamacare now ‘reality’ as Supreme Court decision looms, president says

Weeks before a major Supreme Court ruling that could kneecap his signature achievement, President Obama defended his health overhaul Tuesday as an historic achievement that will lift up millions for years to come, dismissing its steady stream of political and legal headwinds as stubborn attempts to "ignore reality."

June 9, 2015
The U.S. Supreme Court will rule on a challenge to President Obama's health care overhaul that could affect consumers in more than 30 states. (AP Photo)

Obamacare subsidy court ruling shakes Pennsylvania, Delaware, not other states

More than 30 of states face the loss of federal health care subsidies should the Supreme Court rule against the Obama administration this month, but only two -- Pennsylvania and Delaware -- have signaled that they are considering further embracing Obamacare in a bid to head off the effects of the ruling.

June 8, 2015