Ryan predicted that the failings of Obama's healthcare reform law would give the GOP the opportunity to push free-market alternatives.

Congressional Republicans are refusing to recommend members for a controversial panel designed to slow the growth of Medicare spending.

The panel was created by President Obama's healthcare law and structured to ensure some level of bipartisan input. But House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Thursday they will not recommend anyone to serve on the board.

They say the panel — known as the Independent Payment Advisory Board (IPAB) — ought to be repealed. It's one of the controversial sections of the law Republicans have singled out for repeal votes.

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In a nod to the right, House Republican leaders will once again seek to repeal President Obama’s healthcare law next week.

GOP leaders try to help their freshmen stake out a firmly anti-ObamaCare voting record, and gain support for another bill.

Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) tried to pass a Senate resolution that would have condemned illegal abortion practices.

Lee asked unanimous consent to pass his resolution on Wednesday in reaction to the case of Kermit Gosnell, a Philadelphia abortion doctor who is on trial for performing illegal and unsafe abortions.

Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) objected, saying he’d prefer to pass his own resolution that condemns all illegal and unsanitary medical acts, including abortions. But Lee objected saying he didn’t have time to read the resolution before it was offered.

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is launching an inquiry into a potentially dangerous stimulant used in dietary supplements sold by General Nutrition Centers (GNC).

Top lawmakers on the committee sent a series of letters Wednesday to federal regulators, GNC and USPlabs, maker of a dietary supplement known as Jack3d.

The powder is marketed as a workout enhancer and contains dimethylamylamine, a synthetic drug linked to several deaths. 

Reps. Frank Pallone (D-N.J.) and Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.) are calling for a speedy release of federal guidelines to reduce the amount of arsenic in fruit juice.

The two lawmakers pushed the White House budget office to release industry guidance on arsenic now under consideration from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

"It is inexcusable that these guidelines are stalled while consumers continue to be exposed to potentially dangerous levels of arsenic," Pallone and DeLauro wrote. 

A new bipartisan Senate bill seeks to combat drug-resistant disease by requiring federal health officials to enhance reporting of antibiotic use in agriculture.

The measure would require the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to report antibiotic sales data "publicly, comprehensively and predictably," according to the Pew Charitable Trusts.

"This bill is critical to helping us understand how antibiotic overuse on industrial farms is affecting human health," says Laura Rogers, director of Pew’s campaign on Human Health and Industrial Farming.