Archives: Morning Breakouts

The bill triggered concerns from committee Republicans over issues related to states' rights. Still, the measure is likely to clear the panel next week.

The National Journal reports on speculation that the GOP decision to advance a "clean" continuing resolution may signal that the Republican leadership is trying to move away from the partisan fight surrounding efforts to repeal the health law.

The new Congress also continues to be embroiled in battles surrounding the issue of abortion restrictions, which GOP house lawmakers have made a priority.

Virginia's attorney general has asked the Supreme Court to expedite a review of the health law. Meanwhile, House Democrats sent a letter to Justice Clarence Thomas asking him to recuse himself.

"Babies who are exposed to HIV at birth but don't become infected with the virus have lower levels of antibodies to diseases such as whooping cough, tetanus and pneumococcus," according to a study published in the Feb. 9 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), HealthDay News/U.S. News & World Report (2/8). The findings "might explain in part why uninfected babies born to women with HIV have a higher risk of illness and death early in life," according to a press release by the Imperial College of London, whose researchers helped lead the study.

Advocates at the World Social Forum in Dakar, Senegal, "launched a campaign Tuesday to end financial secrecy in tax havens by multinationals they say deprive developing countries of enormous sums of money," Agence France-Presse reports (Boutreaux, 2/8).

The House Appropriations Committee "voted, 27-22, Tuesday evening to move ahead with Republican plans for cutting" $32 billion "from domestic and foreign aid spending over the last seven months of this fiscal year," Politico reports (Rogers, 2/8).

"South Asia is facing a health crisis, with rising rates of heart disease, diabetes and obesity, and patients facing impoverishment as they pay for treatment out of their own pockets," according to a report released Wednesday by the World Bank, Reuters reports (Lyn, 2/9).

Under the House Republicans' plan, language to block money for the overhaul implementation would be attached as an amendment to a stop-gap spending bill necessary to finance the federal government for the rest of the year.

News about health care and health insurance from around the country.