House panel OKs health bill, industry groups say ‘no’

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, left, listens to the committee’s ranking member, Rep. Richard Neal, D-Mass., on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 8, 2017, as the committee began markup of the long-awaited plan by Republicans to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act. WASHINGTON>> House Republicans scored a pre-dawn triumph Thursday in their effort to scuttle former President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, but it masked deeper problems as hospitals, doctors and consumer groups mounted intensifying opposition to the GOP health care drive.

Irish-American politicians call for NI special envoy

The co-chair of the Irish-American grouping in the US Congress has called on President Donald Trump to appoint a new special envoy to Northern Ireland. Massachusetts congressman Richard Neal said that this was a “critically important period of US-Ireland relations” and that he was urging President Trump to appoint an envoy.