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To pay for food safety measures in its $4.7 billion budget, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is proposing new fees to make up the gap.

The budget request released by the agency on Wednesday called for industry fees to make up 94 percent of the budget's nearly $500 million increase from the previous year, and nearly half the agency's budget in 2014.

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.

A coalition of Nobel laureates pushed Congress on Wednesday to protect federal funds for scientific research as the Washington budget battles begin anew.

The group of more than 50 Nobel prize winners — all scientists — urged lawmakers to see the federal research budget as an investment in U.S. competitiveness and the health of the economy. 

"There is a bipartisan agreement on the importance of federal funding of long-term scientific research … The agreement exists because of the recognition that this sort of research fuels the innovation engine that is essential to the economy," the group wrote. 

A House Oversight subcommittee will debate possible changes to federal employee health benefits in a hearing Thursday, two months after Congress approved a pay freeze for federal workers.

The upcoming event will review the administration of the Federal Employee Health Benefits Program (FEHBP) by the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and include testimony from Jonathan Foley, OPM's director of planning and policy analysis.

In an announcement, the Oversight Committee said the hearing would look at proposed changes to the FEHBP expected from President Obama's budget, like allowing plan administrators to contract directly with drug makers. 

Thousands of advocates gathered in Washington, D.C., Monday to call on Congress to increase funding for medical research, which saw cuts from sequestration.

Nearly 200 organizations and a handful of lawmakers participated in the event, held in downtown Washington, where speakers lamented a decade of cuts to federal investments in disease research.

"We need to make it clear to my colleagues exactly what these cuts mean for the health of America's families," Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), a cancer survivor, told the crowd. 

A majority of older voters oppose cost-of-living cuts for Social Security and would object to their member of Congress supporting the policy, according to a new poll.

The national survey from AARP found that 66 percent of voters over 50 would be "considerably less favorable" to lawmakers that back slower cost-of-living increases in Social Security.

President Obama's new budget is expected to include a so-called chained consumer price index (CPI) proposal as an olive branch to Republicans, and the left has signaled strong opposition to the policy ahead of the budget's rollout Wednesday. 

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The Livestrong Foundation on Friday offered a range of free services to cancer patients turned away from their clinics because of sequestration.

Cancer clinics have turned away thousands of patients after being hit with a bigger-than-expected cut in their Medicare payments. Some clinics say they might have to close down completely if the cuts aren't reversed.

A majority of Americans now support the legalization of marijuana, the first time a Pew Research survey found more than half of voters agreeing it should be decriminalized. 

The survey showed that 52 percent of Americans believe the drug should be legal, while 45 percent believe current laws banning possession and use should stay on the books. That represents an 11-point increase in support for legalization since 2010, and a dramatic generational change. In 1969, Gallup found that 84 percent of American opposed marijuana legalization, while just 12 percent supported it.

Nearly two-thirds — 65 percent — of those born since 1980 favor legalizing marijuana. But a full half of so-called Baby Boomers do as well, a reflection of the extent to which attitudes have changed. Some 54 percent of those born between 1965 and 1980 back legalization.

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Miranda Franco is leaving the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) to join the healthcare team at Holland & Knight, the firm announced Wednesday. Read more...