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Articles by Tom Howell Jr.

**FILE** President Obama, accompanied by Sandra Fluke, waves at a campaign event at the University of Colorado Auraria Events Center in Aurora, Colo., on Aug. 8, 2012. Fluke is a Georgetown law student who inadvertently gained notoriety when talk show host Rush Limbaugh spoke disparagingly of her testimony before Congress on the issue of contraception and insurance coverage. (Associated Press)

Court sides with Obama administration in contraception fight

The 6th Circuit Court of Appeals on Tuesday sided with the Obama administration in the nationwide legal battle over the mandate to cover contraception services in the new health care law, marking the second time a federal appeals court rebuffed to a company who said the mandatory coverage of birth control violates its religious beliefs.

September 17, 2013
**FILE** Renee Adams (left) poses with her mother, Irene Salyers, and son, Joseph, 4, at their produce stand in Council, Va., on July 12, 2013. Four out of five U.S. adults struggle with joblessness, near poverty or reliance on welfare for at least parts of their lives, a sign of deteriorating economic security and a vanishing American Dream amid rising incidences of hardship among whites. (Associated Press)

Poverty rate, U.S. income stuck in neutral in 2012

Four years after the official end of the U.S. recession, the nation's poverty rate and median household income showed little positive movement in 2012, according to new data released Tuesday by the U.S. Census Bureau.

September 17, 2013

Poll finds more share negative view of Obamacare

More than half of the American public holds a negative view of the new health care law, even though many do not fully understand how it will affect them and even fewer want lawmakers to help it fail, new polling shows.

September 16, 2013
**FILE** Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett (Associated Press

Pa. Gov. Corbett open to Medicaid expansion, but reforms must come first

Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett said Monday he will seek federal funds to buy private health insurance for thousands of state residents who are newly eligible for Medicaid under the new health care law, but only if he can secure reforms to the entitlement program first.

September 16, 2013
Rep. Tom Price, Georgia Republican, says a delay on implementing Obamacare should not be off the table as part of a spending deal as some parts have been put off already. "[I]t's only fair for the American people now to have that same delay," he said. (Associated Press)

GOP will have wiggle room on spending, but not on debt, in budget fight

House Republicans girding for a pair of fiscal fights this month will have some wiggle room when it comes to their spending priorities, but the debt limit is off the negotiating table — especially if they intend to use the new health care law as a bargaining chip, President Obama said Sunday.

September 15, 2013
**FILE** United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (Associated Press)

U.N. ability to seize all chemical weapons in Syria raises Republican doubts

Lawmakers on Sunday hailed the lofty goals of a pact the United States and Russia struck to locate and dismantle Syria's chemical weapons — but questioned whether Obama administration can assure the stockpiles won't be hidden by the Assad regime or seized by radicalized rebel groups.

September 15, 2013
Sen. John McCain, Arizona Republican, asks a question during a Senate Foreign Relations Committee hearing on Syria on Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2013. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Sen. John McCain: Syrian deal does little, relies on Russians

Sen. John McCain on Sunday threw cold water on the deal the United States and Russia have struck to dismantle the Syrian government's chemical weapons stores by 2014, arguing it does nothing to keep the use of force on the table and help the rebels topple an Assad regime accused of gassing its own people.

September 15, 2013
** FILE ** Rep. Michael T. McCaul, Texas Republican (Associated Press)

Lawmakers hopeful about Syrian deal, but skepticism abounds

Lawmakers from both parties on Sunday showed guarded optimism for a deal struck by U.S. and Russian officials to put chemical weapons inspectors in Syria by November, with destruction of the Assad regime's stockpiles set for next year.

September 15, 2013
** FILE ** Richard L. Trumka, president of the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations(Associated Press)

Treasury to unions: No Obamacare carve-outs for you

Despite pressure from top labor leaders, the Obama administration said late Friday it cannot extend government subsidies tied to the new health care law to union members with multi-employer health plans.

September 14, 2013
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (left) signs a hat reading "New Jersey stronger than the storm" worn by Linda Batcho, of Seaside Park, N.J., on Sept. 13, 2013, as the governor visited the are where a day earlier a massive fire burned a large portion of the Seaside Park boardwalk in Seaside Park, N.J. The fire, which apparently started in an ice cream shop and spread several blocks, hit the recently repaired boardwalk, which was damaged last year by Superstorm Sandy. (Associated Press)

N.J. Gov. Christie thanks neighboring governors for support after boardwalk fire

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Friday thanked the governors of New York and Connecticut for offering assistance to the help the Garden State rebuild, once more, a section of seaside boardwalk that was destroyed by fire late Thursday — less than a year after it had been torn apart by Superstorm Sandy.

September 13, 2013
**FILE** Eric Cantor (Associated Press)

Cantor: Clear calendars for spending deal push

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor said lawmakers should be ready to work on a short-term spending plan during the last week of September — a week they were supposed to be off — setting up yet another 11th-hour showdown over federal spending in Washington to avert a government shutdown.

September 12, 2013
**FILE** American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) President Richard Trumka addresses members during the group's quadrennial convention at Los Angeles Convention Center on Sept. 9, 2013. (Associated Press)

Top unions push for Obamacare ‘fix’

The nation's top labor organization passed a resolution on Wednesday backing President Obama's new health care law but demanding changes in how it treats union members' multi-employer health insurance plans.

September 12, 2013