I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
As The Washington Post’s Peter Slevin reported last week, GOP Senate hopeful J.D. Hayworth might be down in the polls, and he might have just a fifth of the campaign funds accumulated by his primary opponent, Sen. John McCain…
The results from Tuesday’s much-watched congressional primaries are in. Now the larger question remains: What’s their significance? Two of the three high-profile races featured establishment candidates taking on other establishment candidates — with the liberals coming out on top. If any common message emerged from Tuesday’s results it was this: Republicans, who have been hoping that the public’s discontent will translate into big congressional gains in November, might want to reconsider their strategy come Wednesday.
Last month’s deadly explosion at the Upper Big Branch coal mine in southern West Virginia, and the more recent fatal blast on the Deepwater Horizon oil rig off the coast of Louisiana, have at least this much in common: Both were likely preventable, according to a growing number of lawmakers and workplace safety experts — if only federal regulations designed to prevent such disasters had been enforced.
A provision of the newly passed health reform bill that raises doctors’ payments under Medicaid is both temporary and limited in the scope of medical services it covers. The restrictions have left a number of health care advocates and doctors’ groups concerned about patients’ long-term access to care under the reform legislation.
With the last-minute support of anti-abortion colleagues, House Democrats on Sunday passed historic legislation to extend health coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans, protect patients from the most flagrant abuses of insurance companies, and curb runaway health care costs. All told, the $940 billion reforms represent the most sweeping overhaul of the nation’s health care system since the creation of Medicare more than four decades ago. The tally was 219 to 212 in support of reforms passed by the Senate on Christmas Eve, with 34 Democrats joining every Republican in the lower chamber in opposition to the measure.
The House-passed health care reform bill strayed from the Senate proposal on a number of key issues, from children’s coverage to Medicaid payments to the creation of a public health insurance plan. Here’s how the reconciliation bill — which House leaders unveiled to address what they considered weaknesses in the Senate legislation — would tweak (or not) some of the most contentious provisions in the upper chamber’s bill
After months of marathon hearings, partisan bickering and fiery floor debate, Democrats in both the House and the Senate have passed expansive health care reform bills. Now comes the hard part.
Senate Democrats on Thursday approved a sweeping $871 billion proposal designed to extend coverage to tens of millions of uninsured Americans and slow the growth of runaway costs.
As hard as the Senate debate promises to be, many of the thorniest conflicts will likely be re-contested when Democratic leaders in both chambers meet to iron out the differences between their bills.
To hear the Democrats tell the tale, the extension of jobless benefits enacted over the weekend will provide those living in high-unemployment states with an additional 20 weeks of insurance. But that’s impossible because of a glitch in the law.
A protracted and very partisan Senate skirmish has left hundreds of thousands of jobless Americans without unemployment benefits — an impasse that Democrats leaders are hoping to break this week.
Health insurance companies, for decades exempt from federal anti-trust laws, are exploiting that privilege to churn profits at the expense of patients, a number of Senate Democrats charged Wednesday. The lawmakers — including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) — want to repeal the exemption as part of broader efforts this year to overhaul the nation’s dysfunctional health care system.
In a major victory for the pharmaceutical industry, the Senate Finance Committee on Thursday shot down legislation to provide seniors full coverage through the controversial coverage gap in Medicare’s prescription drug benefit. The proposal, sponsored by Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), would have closed Medicare’s so-called “doughnut hole,” which forces millions of seniors each year to pay full prescription costs after annual expenses have reached a certain threshold.
As conservatives continue to warn that the Democrats’ health reform plans would stick government bureaucrats between doctors and patients, a number of consumers, physicians and former insurance industry employees told lawmakers Wednesday that such bureaucrats are already in place: they’re…
As Congress jousts over how to reform the nation’s health care system, many experts say that the Massachusetts model, which has reduced the state’s uninsured rate to the lowest in the nation, is a good place to start.
As the Obama administration begins winding down the $3 billion cash for clunkers program, stories of consumer frustration are popping up nationwide. While a great deal of ink has been used to chronicle the trials of the auto dealers — many of whom have become rankled by the slow pace of federal reimbursement — much less has gone to point out that there are consumers out there feeling roughed up as well.
In the year’s first high-profile legislative setback for the gun lobby, the U.S. Senate on Wednesday shot down legislation to scrap state and local laws dictating who can carry concealed firearms.
On its surface, it sounds like a wonderful environmental benefit: A program providing thousands of dollars to drivers who scrap their gas guzzlers in favor of more fuel-efficient models. Yet critics on and off Capitol Hill say the so-called “cash-for-clunkers” initiative has morphed into a billion-dollar industry handout.
In March, a bipartisan group of lawmakers proposed legislation to overhaul the way congressional campaigns are financed. The measure would allow congressional candidates to access public funds in exchange for disavowing large contributions from individuals, and all contributions from lobbyists.
Last week, as the U.S. Senate was poised to kill legislation allowing homeowners the option of bankruptcy to prevent foreclosure, one senator provided a grave assessment of Congress’ relationship with the finance industry.
