Tom Howell Jr.

Stunned Americans grieve as portraits of Boston Marathon bombing victims emerge

The Neighborhood House Charter School has to bring in counselors for children who will never again see their 8-year-old classmate Martin Richard. The mother of Krystle Campbell, a 29-year-old restaurant manager, said it "doesn't make any sense" that she is gone. And 27-year-old Jeff Bauman Jr. — the man in a widely distributed photo — had to have both lower limbs removed at Boston Medical Center because of extensive vascular and bone damage.

Terror strikes Boston Marathon; twin blasts turn finish line into scene of carnage

With a flash of fire and a pair of deafening blasts, the Boston Marathon disintegrated Monday into a bloody scene of chaos and terror after two bombs went off near the finish line of the iconic race, killing at least three, severing limbs, injuring more than 130 and setting the country on high alert.

On Hill, Sebelius faces GOP doubts over health law

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius told skeptical House Republicans on Friday that President Obama's health care law will roll out on time and improve health outcomes, despite limited resources and fears about the overhaul's impact on small businesses.

Treasury chief, House GOP struggle to find common ground

Two top Obama administration officials told Congress on Thursday that the president made significant concessions to Republicans when drafting the budget proposal he released this week, hoping to set the groundwork for a grand bargain.

Proposal seeks funding big boost for IRS to enforce ‘Obamacare’

President Obama's budget proposal seeks a major funding boost to bolster the IRS, which will enforce his health care law's individual mandate, and to set up insurance exchanges.

Obama budget eyes $400B in health savings without hitting benefits

President Obama's new budget plan aims for about $400 billion in health care savings over the next decade through tweaks to Medicare and other reforms that will affect drug companies more than Americans who benefit from federal health entitlements.

Obama budget includes $235M for mental health, gun violence

Health and Human Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said President Obama's new budget plan released Wednesday morning will devote $235 million toward mental health programs designed to pinpoint problems among youth and prevent gun violence.

Obama’s Medicare, Medicaid nominee basks in bipartisan praise

Free birth control rules to be finalized

President Obama's top health official said Monday the administration will finalize its new rules granting free birth control, saying the controversial policy will go into effect in August.

Judge strikes down age restrictions on ‘morning-after’ pill

A federal judge ordered the Food and Drug Administration on Friday to make a morning-after birth control pill available without a prescription for girls younger than 17 within 30 days — a blunt opinion that rebuked decisions by the Obama administration as politically motivated.

GOP walks a fine line on taking federal money for Medicaid; must weigh stigma vs. practicality

The stigma of "Obamacare" is so potent in many red states that some Republican leaders are walking a linguistic tightrope, trying to avoid being seen as joining the massive new health care entitlement but still hoping to get a piece of the money being offered.

Taxes heat up battle against ‘Obamacare’; focus turns to partial repeals

A tax on everything from X-ray machines to oxygen tanks took effect at the beginning of this year — one of about 20 taxes and fees included in President Obama's health care law — and has emerged as the central battleground in the fight by the law's opponents to repeal parts of the president's overhaul.

Advantage plans under Medicare to get payment boost

The Obama administration reversed course Monday and said it now anticipates boosting rather than cutting payments to insurers who offer Medicare Advantage plans — the private health plans that the president had at one time deemed wasteful.

FDA: No warning required for nicotine gum, patches

The Food and Drug Administration said Monday that manufacturers of products designed to help people quit smoking can alter or remove previously required safety warnings that may be discouraging people from trying to kick the habit.

Gun groups promise fight as U.N. inches toward override of Second Amendment

American gun rights advocates said Thursday that they remain determined to block a far-reaching U.S. agreement on international arms sales, warning that the pact could lead to a national firearms registry and disrupt the U.S. gun market, even as the accord ran into an unexpected last-minute snag in negotiations in New York.

Pelosi ‘optimistic’ DOMA will be struck down

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi says she is "very optimistic" the Supreme Court will strike down a 1996 law that defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman for all federal purposes, leading a chorus of Democratic lawmakers asking the judges to do so.

Obama administration under fire in gay marriage arguments

Gay marriage is on trial but it was the Obama administration facing the heat as the Supreme Court began the second of two days of landmark oral arguments on the constitutionality of gay marriage.

S.D. Sen. Johnson retires for family, health reasons

Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson said Tuesday it is time to "close a circle that began 36 years ago" and leave the upper chamber in Washington when his term expires in 2014.

Both sides optimistic, uncertain as gay marriage arguments end

Attorneys who are challenging and defending California's ban on gay marriage before the Supreme Court struck an optimistic tone as they emerged from arguments on Tuesday, even if they conceded they have no idea how the justices will rule about three months from now.

Key justice: ‘Immediate injury’ in gay marriage ban

Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, often pegged as a key swing-vote between the court's conservative and liberal blocs, has signaled that children of same-sex couples suffer an "immediate legal injury" from California's ban on gay marriage, according to an account of the high court's oral arguments provided by Bloomberg News.