Sen. McConnell Appears to Suffer Medical Incident During Press Conference
WASHINGTON — Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) appeared to have suffered some kind of medical problem during a press conference Wednesday afternoon. McConnell, 81, stepped up to a lectern, greeted the reporters, and began speaking about the Senate Republicans’ agenda in the near term when he stopped in the middle of a sentence. He […]
Senate Committee Advances Pandemic Preparedness Legislation
The Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions (HELP) Committee voted 17-3 with relatively little fanfare Thursday to send pandemic preparedness legislation to the full Senate for a vote. “I don’t think any of us will ever forget we have lost over a million Americans from COVID,” Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), chair of the HELP Committee, […]
Experts Call for PBM Transparency During Senate Hearing
Most expert witnesses at a hearing of the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday agreed that pharmacy benefit managers (PBMs) — middlemen between the drug companies and insurers — drive up the prices of prescription drugs, leaving patients with higher out-of-pocket costs, and offered a range of suggestions on how to curb PBM abuses. Historically, PBMs […]
Senate Democrats Reintroduce Sweeping Bill To Codify Federal Abortion Protections
A group of Senate Democrats reintroduced the Women’s Health Protection Act on Wednesday evening — legislation that aims to codify federal abortion protections since the Supreme Court repealed its landmark 1973 ruling Roe v. Wade. The legislation, sponsored by Democratic Sens. Tammy Baldwin (Wis.) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), aims to “protect a person’s ability to […]
Senate Eases Medicare Cuts as Part of $1.7 Trillion Spending Bill
WASHINGTON — As the clock ticked down the hours before the federal government was due to run out of money, the Senate on Thursday afternoon passed — by a 68-29 vote — a $1.7 trillion spending package that included partial relief from pending cuts in Medicare physician payment. The omnibus bill, which the House was […]
A New Congress Will Face Pressing Healthcare Issues, Regardless of Who Is in Control
WASHINGTON — With some midterm election races too close to call and at least one Senate race headed for a December runoff, it remained unclear on Wednesday which political party would take control of the House or the Senate in 2023. However, observers said that some predictions could still be made about Congress’s potential health […]
Republicans in Congress Introduce Bill to Restrict Abortion Nationwide
WASHINGTON — Republican members of the House and Senate introduced a bill on Tuesday that would ban abortion nationwide after 15 weeks’ gestation. “Working closely with the preeminent pro-life groups in the country, we are today introducing legislation to ban abortion at a time when unborn children can feel pain,” Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), the […]
Senators Debate Need for More $$ for the Fight Against COVID
WASHINGTON — Thursday’s Senate hearing updating progress on the COVID pandemic was either a well-reasoned explanation for why Congress should allocate more money for fighting COVID, or a setup to orchestrate additional funding even though it’s not clear how the money will be spent, depending on who is asked. “The progress we have made so […]
Pennsylvania’s Fetterman Released From Hospital After Stroke
LANCASTER, Pa. (AP) — Pennsylvania Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, the Democratic nominee in the state’s high-profile U.S. Senate contest, has been released from the hospital after a stay of more than a week following a stroke, his wife and his campaign said Sunday. “João is headed home — time to rest and recover (and annoy […]
Rep. Cori Bush: Biden Should ‘Absolutely’ Say The Word ‘Abortion’ More
WASHINGTON ― As the Senate voted on safeguarding abortion rights Wednesday, a group of House Democrats were there urging their colleagues to vote yes. The Women’s Health Protection Act, which would have created federal protections for providing and accessing abortion services, failed along party lines ― with the exception of West Virginia’s Joe Manchin, the […]