Sac Bee slams Kevin McCarthy, he responds

The Sacramento Bee editorial board posted an opinion article on Congressman Kevin McCarthy on Tuesday, saying he might be hazardous to his own district's health: "Gov. Jerry Brown and Insurance Commissioner Dave Jones couldn't have differed more in the style of their recent responses to House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy's request for "ideas" on the pending repeal of the Affordable Care Act. But the substance, in both cases, was sobering.

Appeals court affirms conviction of coal CEO in deadly blast

In a Tuesday, Nov. 24, 2015 file photo, former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship, left, walks out of the Robert C. Byrd U.S. Courthouse after the jury deliberated for a fifth full day in his trial, in Charleston, W.Va. A federal appeals court has affirmed the conviction of former Massey Energy CEO Don Blankenship in connection with the deadliest U.S. mine disaster in four decades.

Transition Tracker: Picking apart Trump’s Cabinet picks

Interviews with President-elect Donald Trump and Vice President-elect Mike Pence and sharp questioning of the Cabinet nominees were part of a flurry of activity less than 48 hours before Trump is set to take office. Both Trump and Rep. Tom Price, the Health and Human Services nominee, are trying to reassure the public that while the political process of replacing Obamacare may give us all a headache, the new coverage to come won't.

Under DeVos, Education Department likely to make significant shift on sexual assault

Accompanied by Sen. Tim Scott and former senator Joe Lieberman, President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for secretary of education, Betsy DeVos, appears before the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee for her confirmation hearing on Tuesday Jan. 17, 2017. The confirmation hearing for President-elect Donald Trump's nominee for education secretary underscored the likelihood of a significant shift in federal policy on sexual assault in college.

Warren fiercely grills Trump pick Price for pushing bills that would benefit his stocks

In a contentious hearing Wednesday, Sen. Elizabeth Warren grilled Rep. Tom Price - Donald Trump's nominee for Health and Human Services secretary - over his proposal to cut to cut funding for Medicare and Medicaid, as well as his introduction of legislation that directly benefitted a company he held stock in. Noting that more than 100 million Americans receive healthcare through the federal programs Medicare and Medicaid, Warren asked Price if he hopes to cut Medicaid funding by more than $1 trillion dollars, as his 2017 budget proposal suggests.

Insurance equality? States push for cost-free vasectomies

Vasectomies, which are not covered under President Barack Obama's health care law, are increasingly being included in state measures that would require insurers to provide cost-free coverage of birth control. Backers of laws and proposals in such states as Illinois, Vermont, Maryland and most recently New York say that if women can get tubal ligations with no out-of-pocket costs, men should be able to get their surgical sterilization covered cost-free as well.

Nonpartisan analysis reaffirms why repealing Obamacare is a bad idea

Any doubts that repealing the core elements of the Affordable Care Act would have dire consequences for millions of Americans were laid to rest this week by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. In the first year after repeal, 18 million Americans would become uninsured, the CBO concluded .

How To Measure Trump’s Performance

For Senate Republicans, these are heady times. Against expectations, they maintained control of their majority and are virtually guaranteed of keeping control of the upper chamber after the 2018 midterms, thanks to a favorable map.

Pruitt’s leadership at EPA will restore its constitutional role

That slogan should be printed on t-shirts and given to every protestor who comes to disrupt the confirmation hearing for Oklahoma Attorney General Scott Pruitt to lead the Environmental Protection Agency. Appearing before Congress in 2015 in his capacity as a state attorney general, Pruitt noted how the EPA is an important agency that plays a vital role in protecting our environment.

GOP chairman plans ‘wholesale change’ at EPA

John Barrasso GOP chairman plans 'wholesale change' at EPA Overnight Energy: Former Exxon chief Tillerson takes the hot seat Republicans scramble on ObamaCare replacement plan MORE , the new chairman of the Environment and Public Works Committee, wrote in a Fox News opinion piece Tuesday that he and Scott Pruitt, Trump's nominee to head the EPA, will implement a major turnaround at the agency. Barrasso outlined the EPA's failures under Obama, including the Gold King Mine disaster in Colorado and the Flint water crisis in Michigan, as well as expensive rules.

Trump: My plan is – insurance for everyone

Isn't this how we got ObamaCare in the first place? Donald Trump told the Washington Post on Sunday that his plan to replace ObamaCare would soon get unveiled along with the plan coming from Congress, and that it would ensure access to health "insurance for everybody," and that he rejected the idea that "if you can't pay for it, you can't get it."

Matt Welch:

Code Pink may get a bad rap, disrupting as it does seemingly every significant event on Capitol Hill. But the most hysterical performances at Tuesday's serially interrupted Senate confirmation hearing for attorney general nominee Jeff Sessions came not from scrappy protesters, but from the august senators within.

Trump vows ‘insurance for everybody’ in Obamacare replacement plan

To continue reading up to 10 premium articles, you must register , or sign up and take advantage of this exclusive offer: President-elect Donald Trump said in a weekend interview that he is nearing completion of a plan to replace President Barack Obama's signature health-care law with the goal of "insurance for everybody," while also vowing to force drug companies to negotiate directly with the government on prices in Medicare and Medicaid.