Pelosi says Republicans did the same thing with Medicare's prescription drug benefit.

Legislation to repeal ObamaCare passed a procedural test in the House on Thursday afternoon, which will allow members to approve the bill later in the day.

Members voted 226-192 in favor of the rule for the legislation, which calls for two hours of debate before the final vote. Every Republican voted for the rule, along with two Democrats — Reps. Jim Matheson (Utah), Mike McIntyre (N.C.).

The Obama administration wants higher standards for federally funded child care.

A proposed rule from the Department of Health and Human Services issued on Thursday would strengthen standards for the 1.6 million children who are served by providers that get money from the Child Care and Development Fund, a federal program to aid low-income children under the age of 13.

The administration claims that current regulations resemble a patchwork of regulations for child care centers, with state laws varying on whether providers need background checks or first aid and CPR training. One in 10 children who are served by the program are cared for in totally unregulated facilities, the department asserts in the proposal, which "can leave children in unsafe conditions, even as their care is being funded with public dollars."

Drugs with ingredients derived from starch or grain would have to disclose those materials under a new Democratic bill, the Gluten in Medicine Disclosure Act. 

Reps. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) and Nita Lowey (D-N.Y.) introduced the measure to assist the roughly 3 million Americans with celiac disease, an autoimmune condition caused by a negative reaction to gluten.

"For millions of Americans, avoiding gluten is a medical necessity," said Lowey, top Democrat on the House Appropriations Committee, in a statement. 

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) predicted Thursday that President Obama will renounce his signature healthcare law in the face of mounting conservative opposition to the reform.

Bachmann said the ongoing scandal involving the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and challenges in implementing the Affordable Care Act put the law's survival "back on the table."

"The issue is now revived," she said at a press conference. "We believe that the heat will become so hot that even the president of the United States will be forced to repudiate his signature legislation." 

House Republicans have introduced separate bills aimed at scaling back the Internal Revenue Service's involvement with implementation of ObamaCare.

Reps. Randy Forbes (R-Va.) and Tom Price (R-Ga.) said their bills are needed in the wake of the IRS's confirmation that it applied extra scrutiny to conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status. Forbes called that a form of "bullying" by the IRS, and said it's a reason why Congress should approve his bill, which would prohibit the hiring of any new IRS officials to implement ObamaCare.

Voting to repeal, over and over

Retiree health costs get cheaper

Cloning, stem cells long mired in legislative gridlock

The House will vote Thursday to repeal President Obama's healthcare law. Spoiler alert: The bill will pass. The healthcare law will not be repealed.

The real question surrounding Thursday's vote is whether it will open the door to a more targeted focus on specific provisions in the healthcare law, such as the tax on medical devices or the controversial new panel tasked with slowing the growth in Medicare spending. 

The vote on full repeal was scheduled after Republican leaders had to pull a bill to reprogram money from one part of ObamaCare to another. Conservatives feared they would be seen as trying to fix the healthcare law rather than waging a futile campaign to repeal it entirely, and said freshmen needed a chance to vote on full repeal before they were asked to support partial measures.

Conservatives still oppose the bill GOP leaders had to pull, but say freshmen might be better able now to support bills aimed at other specific provisions.

The rule: The House Rules Committee has chosen to bring the repeal bill to the floor Thursday under a closed rule, which prohibits amendments. The two sides will debate for two hours before the vote. One motion to recommit will be permitted.

No new score: Without releasing new figures, congressional budget analysts said Wednesday that the repeal bill will increase the budget deficit. Read about that notice, which cited last year's estimate, at Healthwatch.

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The Senate confirmed President Obama’s nominee to head the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS).

On Wednesday, the Senate voted 91-7 for Marilyn Tavenner to lead CMS, which hasn’t had a Senate-confirmed administrator in seven years.