Paige Winfield Cunningham
Articles by Paige Winfield Cunningham
Health care repeal vote puts heat on Democrats
Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. said it's up to Congress to decide what to do with the health care law, and House Republicans are following his advice, forcing the chamber to vote Wednesday on repealing the entire package just weeks after the Supreme Court said it's constitutional. Published July 10, 2012
Texas governor rejects Medicaid expansion in ‘Obamacare’
His state is home to the highest percentage of uninsured Americans in the country, but Texas Gov. Rick Perry on Monday rejected the Medicaid expansion in President Obama's health care law, saying it would be too expensive in the long run and give the federal government too much sway in state affairs. Published July 9, 2012
Countrywide’s loans bought clout on Hill
Countrywide Financial Corp., the former mortgage lending giant whose subprime loans helped spark the country's foreclosure crisis, bought influence on Capitol Hill by giving discounted loans to lawmakers and key policymakers, according to a nearly four-year House-led investigation that wrapped up this week. Published July 5, 2012
Ruling could hike CBO’s health law cost estimate
The next big shoe to drop in the health care debate after last week's Supreme Court ruling is an updated cost estimate from Congress' chief scorekeepers, which could tip the massive program into the red. Published July 3, 2012
Drug maker agrees to largest-ever fraud settlement
GlaxoSmithKline LLC, a global health care company, agreed to plead guilty and pay $3 billion, the largest health care fraud settlement in U.S. history, after illegally marketing certain prescription drugs, Department of Justice officials announced Monday. Published July 2, 2012
Obama administration mum on tweaks to health law
President Obama has said he's open to improving his health care law now that the Supreme Court has upheld it, but his administration wouldn't say Friday whether the president would agree to repeal any of the provisions Republicans have already tried to axe on their own. Published June 29, 2012
Health care ruling opens new avenues of debate
The Supreme Court's ruling upholding the heart of the health care law left Republicans vowing to redouble their efforts at a repeal but also cleared the way for Democrats who said they can now try to correct some of the errors they acknowledge they made when they wrote the bill. Published June 28, 2012
Roberts’ vote sways Supreme Court to uphold Obama’s health care overhaul
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the heart of President Obama's health care law, ruling that the federal government can compel Americans to buy health insurance and striking a new balance for the scope of federal authority in the 21st century. Published June 28, 2012
Cantor: House will vote to repeal health care law
The political fight ramped up immediately after the Supreme Court ruling Thursday morning, with Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell saying the court has stripped away the pretense and exposed the tax increases in the law. Published June 28, 2012
Supreme Court upholds Obama’s health care overhaul
The Supreme Court on Thursday upheld the heart of President Obama's health care law, ruling the federal government can compel Americans to buy health insurance, and striking a new balance for the scope of federal authority in the 21st century. Published June 28, 2012
Supreme Court ready for ‘high theater’ with health care ruling
Judgment Day has finally arrived in Washington for President Obama and his health care law, which after two long years of court battles will earn a final legal decision Thursday from the nine justices on the Supreme Court. Published June 27, 2012
House GOP escalates probe of AARP health care deals
A key House committee has officially demanded documents from the powerful senior citizens lobby AARP as part of a probe of its role in promoting President Obama's health care law, elevating the matter to an official House investigation. Published June 27, 2012
House GOP seen blocking farm measure
The five-year farm bill, which cleared the Senate last week, could be headed for rough waters in the House with Republicans complaining that the upper chamber's bill favors Midwesterners' crops over Southerners' produce and saying a final compromise will need to have deeper cuts to the food-stamp and crop-insurance programs. Published June 25, 2012
Spin doctors prepare to pounce on health care decision
With the nine Supreme Court justices poised to announce the fate of President Obama's health care law this week, Washington is bracing for the long-awaited ruling that is expected to rattle the political fault lines leading up to the November election. Published June 24, 2012
Issa: No evidence of White House cover-up in Fast and Furious probe
The chairman of a House committee that recommended a contempt of Congress citation against Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. in the Fast and Furious gunrunning probe says there is no evidence so far that White House officials were involved in misleading Congress or engaged in a cover-up. Published June 24, 2012
GOP demands answers from AARP on health deals
Congressional Republicans are demanding that the country's largest senior advocacy group respond to charges that it sacrificed the interests of older Americans in order to help muster support for President Obama's health care law. Published June 21, 2012
Senate votes to strip public funding from party conventions
The Senate voted in a landslide to strip the Democratic and Republican national committees of public funding for their 2012 conventions and put the money toward reducing the national deficit instead, adding the measure to a five-year farm bill lawmakers approved Thursday. Published June 21, 2012
Senate votes to curtail farm subsidies
Democrats and Republicans constantly clash over how much Americans should pay in taxes, but senators from both parties managed to agree Wednesday that wealthy farmers shouldn't pocket millions in conservation subsidies from the federal government, voting to end the payments as part of a five-year farm bill. Published June 20, 2012
Health law crucial despite insurers’ vow, HHS says
The Obama administration says the president's health care law is crucial to ensuring health coverage for young adults — even though major health insurers have announced they will still cover them even if the Supreme Court throws the law out next week. Published June 19, 2012
Health care ruling voiding mandate could unravel law
A Supreme Court decision to rule against the individual mandate that requires Americans to buy insurance coverage would sour the health care industry on President Obama's health care reforms. But the extent of the damage has a lot to do with whether the sickest Americans will still be able to enter the insurance market. Published June 17, 2012