Editorial Results (free)
1.
CDC Chief Asks For, And Gets, Cut to His Record $375K Pay -
Tuesday, May 1, 2018
NEW YORK (AP) – The new head of the top U.S. public health agency has asked for – and will receive – a cut to his record-setting pay, federal officials said Monday.
Dr. Robert Redfield Jr.'s new salary was not revealed.
2.
Trump Hints VA Pick Might Want to Withdraw Nomination -
Wednesday, April 25, 2018
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Donald Trump suggested Tuesday that his pick for Veterans Affairs secretary might want to withdraw after the emergence of allegations about inappropriate workplace behavior, including over-prescribing prescription drugs and drinking on the job.
3.
CDC Director Resigns Over Financial Conflicts of Interest -
Thursday, February 1, 2018
NEW YORK (AP) – The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resigned Wednesday over financial conflicts of interest involving her investments in health care businesses.
4.
Congress Deals 2 Blows to 'Obamacare' -
Thursday, December 21, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) – Congress dealt a pair of blows to the Obama health care law Wednesday, including a retreat by two senators who were fighting for a provision this year that would help contain premium costs.
5.
Franken Announces Resignation From Senate Amid Allegations -
Friday, December 8, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) – Minnesota Sen. Al Franken announced Thursday he will resign from Congress in the coming weeks following a wave of sexual misconduct allegations and the collapse of support from his Democratic colleagues, a swift political fall for a once-rising Democratic star.
6.
Repeal of Health Insurance Mandate Would Remake Market for Consumers -
Thursday, November 16, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) – Millions are expected to forgo coverage if Congress repeals the unpopular requirement that Americans get health insurance, gambling that they won't get sick and boosting premiums for others in a sharp break with the idea that everyone should contribute toward health care.
7.
Trump Names Former Drug Exec as New Health Secretary -
Tuesday, November 14, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) – Turning to an industry he's rebuked, President Donald Trump on Monday picked a former top pharmaceutical and government executive to be his health and human services secretary, overseeing a $1 trillion department responsible for major health insurance programs, medical research, food and drug safety, and public health.
8.
Education Dept. Could Scale Back Help on Loans -
Tuesday, October 31, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Education Department is considering only partially forgiving federal loans for students defrauded by for-profit colleges, according to department officials, abandoning the Obama administration's policy of erasing that debt.
9.
The Latest: Silver Plan Premiums Up Average of 34 Percent -
Thursday, October 26, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on the upcoming start of the 2018 sign-up season for the Affordable Care Act (all times local):
3:15 p.m.
An analysis of newly released government data finds that premiums for the most popular health plans under the Affordable Care Act are going up by an average 34 percent next year.
10.
Last Word: Alexander on Trump, Gibson Sells and Chandler Home Sales Numbers -
Friday, October 20, 2017
If you tuned out at half-time in Houston Thursday evening, you may need to examine your committment and give me five sets of wind sprints from East Parkway to the fountain at the other end of Tiger Lane. And no drinking the blue water.
11.
Senators Reach Deal on Resuming Payments to Health Insurers -
Wednesday, October 18, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) – Key senators reached a breakthrough deal Tuesday on resuming federal payments to health insurers that President Donald Trump has blocked. Insurers had warned that unless the money is quickly restored, premiums will go up.
12.
State Politicians in No Hurry to Fix Health Insurance -
Thursday, October 5, 2017
We don’t need no stinkin’ special session on Medicaid expansion.
That’s pretty much the Republican response to House Democratic Leader Craig Fitzhugh’s call for Gov. Bill Haslam to bring lawmakers back to Nashville after the Graham-Cassidy bill failed in Congress.
13.
Congress at Crossroads After Another GOP Health Care Failure -
Thursday, September 28, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) – Congress is at a crossroads after Republicans' stinging failure to repeal Barack Obama's health care law. But what's next – more partisan conflict or a pragmatic shift toward cooperation?
14.
Graham-Cassidy Bill Withdrawn Amidst Local Protest -
Wednesday, September 27, 2017
Ahead of an increasingly tentative vote on the latest Republican health care proposal in the U.S. Senate, about 100 critics of the Graham-Cassidy bill rallied Downtown Monday, Sept. 25, to call for U.S. Sens. Bob Corker and Lamar Alexander of Tennessee to vote against the proposal.
15.
Obama-Era Guidance on Campus Sexual Assault Gets Scrapped -
Monday, September 25, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Trump administration on Friday scrapped Obama-era guidance on investigating campus sexual assault, replacing it with new instructions that allow universities to require higher standards of evidence when handling complaints.
16.
Republicans Unveil Long-Shot Effort on Health Care -
Thursday, September 14, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senators on Wednesday rolled out competing plans for the nation's health care system, with a group of GOP senators making a last, long-shot effort to undo Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders proposing universal government-run coverage.
17.
Report: Higher Premiums If Trump Halts 'Obamacare' Subsidies -
Thursday, August 17, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) – Premiums for a popular type of individual health care plan would rise sharply, and more people would be left with no insurance options if President Donald Trump makes good on his threat to stop "Obamacare" payments to insurers, the Congressional Budget Office says.
18.
Kustoff: Window for Congressional Tax Reform Narrow -
Thursday, August 3, 2017
When the House and Senate return to Washington from the August recess, the clock will be ticking on a tax-reform proposal that is a Republican priority.
And U.S. Rep. David Kustoff of Germantown says time is of the essence with 53 legislative days left in the year, as midterm election considerations in 2018 will make a tax-cut bill he and other Republicans favor more unlikely.
19.
Pence Breaks Tie as Senate Confirms DeVos for Education Post -
Wednesday, February 8, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate on Tuesday confirmed school choice advocate Betsy DeVos as Education secretary by the narrowest of margins, with Vice President Mike Pence breaking a 50-50 tie in a historic vote.
20.
Repeal of Health Law Could Mean Women Pay More for Less -
Friday, February 3, 2017
WASHINGTON (AP) – From a return to higher premiums based on gender, to gaps in coverage for birth control and breast pumps, experts say women could end up paying more for less if the Obama-era health care law is repealed.
21.
Senate, House Look to Update Bush-Era Education Law -
Wednesday, July 8, 2015
WASHINGTON (AP) — It's something most Democrats and Republicans in Congress can agree on — an update to the Bush-era No Child Left Behind education law is much needed and long overdue.
22.
Piano-Playing Senator's Latest Tune: New Education Policy -
Tuesday, July 7, 2015
WASHINGTON (AP) – How does a musician-senator fill the time during yet another partisan Senate stalemate?
In Sen. Lamar Alexander's case, he sits down at a borrowed piano in his Capitol Hill office and, with a grin, bangs out "The Memphis Blues."
23.
Congress OKs Bill Reshaping Medicare Doctors' Fees -
Thursday, April 16, 2015
WASHINGTON (AP) – Conservatives hated that it's expected to swell federal deficits over the coming decade. Liberals complained that it shortchanged health programs for children and women.
24.
No Child Left Behind Gets Renewed Focus -
Tuesday, December 2, 2014
WASHINGTON (AP) – The No Child Left Behind education law could be making a political comeback.
Sen. Lamar Alexander, the Tennessee Republican who is the incoming chairman of the Senate committee overseeing education, says his top education priority is fixing the landmark Bush-era law. His goal? Get a bill signed by President Barack Obama early next year.
25.
Senate Confirms McDonald as Veterans Affairs Secretary -
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate on Tuesday unanimously confirmed former Procter & Gamble CEO Robert McDonald as the new Veterans Affairs secretary, with a mission to overhaul an agency beleaguered by long veterans' waits for health care and VA workers falsifying records to cover up delays.
26.
House Passes Ryan Budget With Big Cuts -
Friday, April 11, 2014
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Republicans rallied behind a slashing budget blueprint on Thursday, passing a non-binding but politically imposing measure that promises a balanced federal ledger in 10 years with sweeping budget cuts and termination of health care coverage under the Affordable Care Act.
27.
House Democrats Unveil Budget Plan With Tax Hikes -
Tuesday, April 8, 2014
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Democrats unveiled their response to Paul Ryan's GOP budget on Monday, and it relies on a $1.5 trillion in higher taxes over the coming 10 years and the economic benefits of immigration reform to make the numbers work.
28.
Obama 2015 Budget Focuses on Boosting Economy -
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama sent Congress a $3.9 trillion budget Tuesday that would funnel money into road building, education and other economy-bolstering programs, handing Democrats a playbook for their election-year themes of creating jobs and narrowing the income gap between rich and poor.
29.
Senate Clears Debt Limit Measure for Obama -
Thursday, February 13, 2014
WASHINGTON (AP) – After a dramatic Senate tally in which top GOP leaders cast the crucial votes, must-pass legislation to allow the government to borrow money to pay its bills cleared Congress Wednesday for President Barack Obama's signature.
30.
Bipartisan Budget Agreement Nears Final Passage -
Thursday, December 19, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Senate lined up Wednesday to give final congressional approval to legislation scaling back across-the-board cuts on programs ranging from the Pentagon to the national park system, adding a late dusting of bipartisanship to a year more likely to be remembered for a partial government shutdown and near-perpetual gridlock.
31.
Bipartisan Negotiators Seek Modest Budget Pact -
Wednesday, December 11, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) – Republican and Democratic negotiators reached out for a budget agreement Tuesday to reduce automatic spending cuts aimed at programs ranging from parks to the Pentagon, risking a backlash from liberals and conservatives that highlighted the difficulty of compromise within divided government.
32.
Democrats Launch Effort to Renew Jobless Benefits -
Thursday, November 21, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrats on Capitol Hill have launched a drive to renew jobless benefits averaging less than $300 a week nationwide for people out of work for more than six months.
Benefits for 1.3 million long-term unemployed people expire just three days after Christmas. Lawmakers say another 1.9 million people would miss out on the benefits in the first six months of next year.
33.
Ending Tax Breaks Eyed as Way to Ease Budget Cuts -
Friday, November 15, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) – Democrats' new mantra in budget talks is to close tax loopholes for certain businesses, investors and professionals as a way to raise more revenue to help ease autopilot spending cuts that soon are to become more painful.
34.
Negotiators Report Little Progress in Budget Talks -
Thursday, November 14, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) – House and Senate budget negotiators say they're not close to an agreement but plan to keep at it.
"We're trying to find common ground but we're not there yet," said House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan, R-Wis. He said Republicans and Democrats have spent lots of time in the recent past airing their differences but it's now time to find a way to strike an accord. "The hard part is figuring out where we agree," Ryan said.
35.
Spending Cuts, Shutdown Lower US Budget Deficit -
Thursday, November 14, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) – The U.S. government started the first month of the 2014 budget year with a smaller budget deficit, signaling further improvement in the nation's finances at a time when lawmakers are wrestling to reach a deal to keep the government open past January.
36.
Both Sides Agree: No Major Budget Deal Foreseen -
Monday, October 28, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) — On this, GOP budget guru Rep. Paul Ryan and top Senate Democrat Harry Reid can agree: There won't be a "grand bargain" on the budget.
37.
Shutdown Over, Obama Surveys Damage and Blames GOP -
Friday, October 18, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) – The government unlocked its doors Thursday after 16 days, with President Barack Obama saluting the resolution of Congress' bitter standoff but lambasting Republicans for the partial shutdown that he said had damaged the U.S. economy and America's credibility around the world.
38.
Boehner: House Won't Pass 'Clean' Spending Bill -
Friday, September 27, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Republicans will not simply pass a temporary spending bill from the Democratic Senate after it is shorn clean of a tea party plan to "defund Obamacare," House Speaker John Boehner said on Thursday.
39.
Back to Negotiations After Student Loan Plan Fails -
Thursday, July 11, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) – The defeat of a student loan bill in the Senate on Wednesday clears the way for fresh negotiations to restore lower rates, but lawmakers are racing the clock before millions of students return to campus next month to find borrowing terms twice as high as when school let out.
40.
House Passes GOP Budget Plan Promising Deep Cuts -
Friday, March 22, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Republican-controlled House passed a tea party-flavored budget plan Thursday that promises sharp cuts in safety-net programs for the poor and a clampdown on domestic agencies, in sharp contrast to less austere plans favored by President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies.
41.
Cuts Imminent, Senate Democrats, GOP Stage Votes -
Friday, March 1, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) – Squabbling away the hours, the Senate swatted aside last-ditch plans to block $85 billion in broad-based federal spending reductions Thursday as Republicans and Democrats blamed each other for the latest outbreak of gridlock and the Obama administration readied plans to put the cuts into effect.
42.
Obama Seeks to Avoid Sequester With Short-Term Fix -
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama is asking Congress for a short-term deficit reduction package of spending cuts and tax revenue that will delay the effective date of steeper automatic cuts now scheduled to kick in on March 1. Obama said the looming cuts would be economically damaging and must be avoided.
43.
Federal Budget Deficit Estimated at $845 Billion -
Wednesday, February 6, 2013
WASHINGTON (AP) – The federal budget deficit will drop below $1 trillion for the first time in President Barack Obama's tenure in office, a new report said Tuesday.
The Congressional Budget Office analysis said the government will run a $845 billion deficit this year, a modest improvement compared to last year's $1.1 trillion shortfall but still enough red ink to require the government to borrow 24 cents of every dollar it spends.
44.
Panel Set to Fail to Cut Deficit $1.2 Trillion -
Tuesday, November 22, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) – The bipartisan leadership of a special congressional deficit supercommittee has officially announced that the panel has failed to reach an agreement.
Democratic Sen. Patty Murray and Republican Rep. Jeb Hensarling say that despite "intense deliberations" the members of the panel have been unable "to bridge the committee's significant differences."
45. Boehner: War Drawdown Savings Can't Go to Jobs - Friday, November 18, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) – With a special deficit-reduction supercommittee floundering, the top Republican in Congress warned Thursday that he won't permit savings from winding down the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to pay for President Barack Obama's jobs spending agenda.
46. Obama Urges Debt Panel to Reach for Deal - Monday, November 14, 2011
ABOARD AIR FORCE ONE (AP) – President Barack Obama has urged leaders of Congress' supercommittee to press hard for a deal on slashing the deficit – and not look for an end run around a key enforcement mechanism.
47. Senate Approves Jobs Benefits for Veterans - Friday, November 11, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) – A united Senate emphatically approved legislation Thursday intended to help unemployed veterans and companies doing business with the government, endorsing a measure that includes the first small slice of President Barack Obama's jobs plan that is likely to become law.
48. Democrats Dismiss GOP Deficit Offer - Thursday, November 10, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) – Members of a special deficit-cutting panel are getting renewed encouragement from their colleagues even as they remain far apart on taxes and cuts to so-called entitlement programs like Medicare.
49. GOP Ponders Tax Options for Debt ‘Supercommittee' - Wednesday, November 9, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) – Capitol Hill Republicans say the GOP members of a deficit "supercommittee" are showing flexibility on revenue hikes as the panel heads closer to its Thanksgiving deadline.
50. Congress Sputters on Deficit Cuts, Spending Bills - Wednesday, November 9, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) – A sputtering Congress enveloped in an atmosphere poisoned with politics and distrust enters its final weeks of the year struggling to complete a lengthy to-do list on the budget.
51. Deficit 'Supercommittee' Struggles as Clock Ticks - Tuesday, October 11, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) – The supercommittee is struggling.
After weeks of secret meetings, the 12-member deficit-cutting panel established under last summer's budget and debt deal appears no closer to a breakthrough than when talks began last month.
52. Obama to Talk Jobs Bill With Top Senate Dems - Friday, October 7, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama will meet with top Senate Democrats at the White House Thursday afternoon to discuss his jobs bill.
The White House says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Sens. Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer and Patty Murray will attend the meeting, scheduled for 5:30 pm EDT.
53. Members of Deficit-Reduction Panel Meet in Private - Friday, September 16, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) – Members of Congress' debt reduction supercommittee said Thursday that their assignment of finding ways to reduce government red ink won't be simple.
Emerging from a private breakfast meeting among the panel's members, Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, told reporters: "We know that it will not be fun. We know it will not be easy, it will not be popular with any current political constituency."
54. Congressional Debt Reduction Panel Kicks Off Work - Friday, September 9, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) – In an early show of optimism, Republicans and Democrats on a powerful committee charged with cutting deficits pledged Thursday to aim higher than their $1.2 trillion target, work to boost job creation and reassure an anxious nation that Congress can solve big problems.
55. Debt Panel Members Rake in Health Money - Thursday, September 8, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) – The powerful new congressional panel assigned to tame the deficit will have to squeeze Medicare and Medicaid for any chance of success. But health care industries that depend on those programs have invested millions over the years to woo its members.
56. Pelosi Names Final Members to Debt Supercommittee - Friday, August 12, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) – House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi's appointment Thursday of three Democrats to Congress' new debt-reduction supercommittee completes the roster of a panel whose members are already being tugged in competing directions.
57. Debt Panel Members Prompt Doubts - Thursday, August 11, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) – A conservative Texas Republican congressman has been chosen by House Speaker John Boehner to co-chair a powerful new committee tasked to find a bipartisan plan to slash the federal budget deficit by over $1 trillion.
58. New Air Traffic Control System at Crossroads - Wednesday, July 6, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) – The Federal Aviation Administration is creating a new air traffic system that officials say will be as revolutionary for civil aviation as was the advent of radar six decades ago. But the program is at a crossroads.
59. Senators Concerned by Photo ID Requirement to Vote - Thursday, June 30, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) – Sixteen Democratic senators want the Justice Department to look into whether voting rights are being jeopardized in states that require photo identification in order for people to vote.
60. Obama: Talks on Entitlements 'Have Already Begun' - Friday, February 18, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP) – President Barack Obama said Wednesday that difficult debates on how to address the costs of Social Security and Medicare are "starting now," even though his 2012 budget blueprint lacked any major changes to the large benefit programs.
61. Bill Clinton Races to Help Democratic Candidates - Monday, October 25, 2010
WASHINGTON (AP) — Bill Clinton, out of the Oval Office for nearly a decade and once considered a political liability, is campaigning for Democratic candidates at a pace no one can match, drawing big crowds and going to states that President Barack Obama avoids.
62. Fearing Rout, Obama, Dems Reach to Female Voters - Friday, October 22, 2010
SEATTLE (AP) — In a last-ditch effort to prevent electoral disaster, President Barack Obama and Democratic allies are vigorously wooing women voters, whose usually reliable support appears to have softened.
63. Obama Says Elections Will Set Nation's Future - Friday, October 22, 2010
SEATTLE (AP) — Practically ordering cheering supporters to vote, even though he's not on the ballot, President Barack Obama declared Thursday that the Nov. 2 congressional elections will set the direction of the nation "for years to come."
64. Stimulus Spending Looms Large in Midterm Contests - Thursday, October 21, 2010
DENVER (AP) — A photo of President Barack Obama hangs on the wall in CoraFaye's Cafe, a short walk from the Denver museum where Obama signed into law the most sweeping U.S. economic package in decades in an attempt to put people back to work and end the worst downturn since the Great Depression.
65. Obama Says Recession Recovery to Take Few Years - Thursday, August 19, 2010
SEATTLE (AP) – A campaigning President Barack Obama said Tuesday it will take a few years to dig the nation out of the recession, warning impatient voters that any candidate promising faster results "is just looking for your vote."
66. Senate Approves Jobs Bill to Stop Teacher Layoffs - Friday, August 6, 2010
WASHINGTON (AP) – Legislation long sought by Democrats to save the jobs of up to 300,000 teachers, police and other public workers passed the Senate on Thursday.
The 61-39 vote – to be followed by a rush vote next week in the House – should come in time for many school districts to revisit decisions to lay off teachers before the new school year.
67. Obama Team Draws Sharp Questions on US Budget - Wednesday, February 3, 2010
WASHINGTON (AP) - President Barack Obama's $3.8 trillion budget outline drew bipartisan fire from U.S. lawmakers on Tuesday, with Republicans complaining it does not address deficits soon enough and raises taxes too much. Democrats balked at some of Obama's spending cuts.
68. Senate Votes to Allow Guns on Amtrak - Thursday, September 17, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) - The Senate voted Wednesday to permit passengers on the Amtrak passenger railroad to transport handguns in their checked baggage.
The proposal, approved by a 68-30 vote, seeks to give Amtrak riders rights comparable to those enjoyed by airline passengers, who are permitted to transport firearms provided that they declare they are doing so and that the arms are unloaded and in a securely locked container.
69. Gov’t Sees Loan Defaults, Foreclosures Rise - Friday, April 3, 2009
The number of troubled loans backed by the government’s mortgage insurance program is rising as economic problems mount, and lawmakers are worried taxpayers will be stuck with the final bill.
U.S. Sen. Kit Bond, R-Mo., warned Thursday that the Federal Housing Administration is a “powder keg” waiting to explode, and said Congress and the Obama administration shouldn’t place a greater financial burden on the already strapped agency.
70. Republicans Block Boost for Road Building - Wednesday, February 4, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) - Senate Republicans on Tuesday blocked Democrats from adding $25 billion for highways, mass transit, and water projects to President Barack Obama's economic recovery program.
71. HUD Secretary Quits Amid Housing Crisis - Tuesday, April 1, 2008
WASHINGTON (AP) - HUD Secretary Alphonso Jackson, his tenure tarnished by allegations of political favoritism and a criminal investigation, announced his resignation Monday amid the wreckage of the national housing crisis.