Healthcare

GOP leaders lacked the votes to pass an ObamaCare fix bill.

Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) called President Obama’s healthcare law a “train wreck” on Tuesday.

“The only thing that this administration seems to care about is who’s going to take the blame for the train wreck that is coming,” Barrasso said on the Senate floor. “The public wanted a healthcare law and what they got was a train wreck.”

Dozens of House Democrats on Monday introduced a resolution that rejected President Obama's proposal for calculating growth in Social Security benefits.

The resolution, H.Con.Res. 34, was sponsored by Rep. David Cicilline (D-R.I.), and co-sponsored by 81 other Democrats. It says it is the sense of Congress that "the Chained Consumer Price Index should not be used to calculate cost of living adjustments for Social Security benefits."

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) on Tuesday proposed legislation that would require hospitals to maintain a minimum nurse-to-patient ratio at all times, and allow the government to audit and penalize hospitals that fail to comply with this rule.

Boxer said her bill, S. 739, is meant to help address the nation's shortage of nurses, and would also ensure patients get the care they need while in the hospital.

Freshman Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.) blasted President Obama and the press for ignoring a Pennsylvania trial in which an abortion doctor is accused of performing late-term abortions and killing one woman.

Dr. Kermit Gosnell has been charged with partially delivering seven babies older than 24 weeks, which is illegal in Pennsylvania. He's also charged with the death of Karnamaya Mongar, who died after going into cardiac arrest during an abortion procedure.

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) on Wednesday mocked a medical coding system that will soon require doctors to use a giant codebook that includes more than 140,000 kinds of injuries and illnesses, including nine separate ways to be injured by a turkey and three ways to be injured by a lamppost.

"It's red tape, it's bureaucracy, and this is what happens when clueless big government here in Washington starts telling people out in the workplace, doctors and patients, what they must do and when government intrudes into our lives with more regulations," Poe said on the House floor.

Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) warned Marilyn Tavenner Monday that she would have to answer tough questions at a Senate Finance Committee hearing later this week.

Travenner is President Obama’s nominee to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and the Senate Finance Committee will hear testimony from her on Tuesday. She is currently the Acting CMS Administrator.

New Mexico Sens. Tom Udall (D) and Martin Heinrich (D) said Thursday that they would lead an effort to increase school grants for mental health services.

"Removing the stigma around mental illness and making treatment available at early ages is critical to raising a stable and productive society," Udall said. 

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ensure that generic painkillers are tamper-proof to prevent abuse.

“I believe more can be done to prevent an influx of generic opiates from coming to market that fail to incorporate technologies to reduce the likelihood of misuse and abuse,” McConnell wrote in a letter to FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg on Wednesday.

Freshman Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) warned Texas Gov. Rick Perry (R) on Sunday that his refusal to expand Medicaid to low-income people in Texas will hurt his presidential chances in 2016.

"Governor, being tough on people with no health insurance won't win you the Republican presidential primary in 2016," Castro wrote in a Dallas Morning News op-ed. "It definitely won't win you the presidency."