Healthcare

A key Republican on the House Agriculture Committee is warning the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) not to furlough federal meat inspectors as a way to comply with the spending sequester.

In a Wednesday letter to USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, Rep. Michael Conaway (R-Texas) said this plan would put both jobs and consumer safety at risk.

A group of GOP senators introduced a bill Thursday that would prohibit minors from crossing state lines to avoid parental involvement in the decision to get an abortion.

Sens. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) and Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) are the lead sponsors of the legislation. Some states don’t require parental consent for minors to get an abortion, causing some to cross state lines in order to avoid telling their parents about the procedure.

Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) and dozens of other House Democrats proposed legislation Wednesday that would create a government-financed system that would give all U.S. citizens and residents access to all levels of private health services, at no cost to them.

Conyers said the 2010 healthcare law was an important "initial reform" of the healthcare system, but said the country now needs to move to a single-payer system as outlined in his Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act, H.R. 676.

The device tax from President Obama’s healthcare law took effect at the start of 2013.

"We are in the process of a dramatic shift in the marijuana policy landscape," Rep. Blumenauer said.

The bill would have the national nurse work alongside the surgeon general and "focus on health promotion."

The House on Monday approved two non-controversial children's healthcare bills that they had approved in the last Congress, and sent them on to the Senate.

In a 375-27 vote, members approved H.R. 225, the National Pediatric Research Network Act. This bill would create a national pediatric research network consisting of research consortia that can receive grants from the National Institutes of Health.

Sen. Sessions, the ranking member on the Budget Committee, is asking for all documents related to the "Medicare trigger."

House Republicans next week will pass three non-controversial bills dealing with children's and veterans' health, all of which were easily approved with bipartisan support by the House in the last Congress, but were then ignored by the Senate.

One of these, from Rep. Joe Pitts (R-Pa.), would continue a grant program for pediatric doctors that the Obama administration had proposed to scrap.

A group of Democratic senators introduced a bill Thursday that would close tax loopholes for tobacco companies, generating $3.6 billion in revenue over 10 years.

Democratic Sens. Dick Durbin (Ill.), Frank Lautenberg (N.J.) and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) introduced the Tobacco Tax Equity Act, S. 194, which would close tax loopholes that allow tobacco companies to avoid the federal cigarette and roll-your-own tobacco tax, by making taxes on pipe tobacco equivalent to cigarette tobacco.