FRANK PALLONE

Gas Prices Gasoline price is seen at a gas station in Rolling Meadows, Ill., Friday, April 1, 2022. Oil executives, testifying before Congress for the second time in six months, responded that oil is a global market and that oil companies don’t dictate prices. The national average gas price was $4.16 a gallon for regular on Wednesday, up from $2.87 a year ago, according to AAA. "This is the Biden price hike,'' countered Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state, the committee's top Republican. The release of oil from the U.S. stockpile could reduce oil prices, although Biden has twice ordered releases from the reserves without causing a meaningful shift in oil markets.

House Democrats are accusing oil companies of “ripping off the American people” and putting profits before production as Americans suffer from higher gasoline prices amid the war in Ukraine.

The bipartisan bill, named the Sunshine Protection Act, would ensure Americans would no longer have to change their clocks twice a year.

(AP Photo/Patrick Semansky) (Patrick Semansky)WASHINGTON — (AP) — The Senate unanimously approved a measure Tuesday that would make daylight saving time permanent across the United States next year. The bipartisan bill, named the Sunshine Protection Act, would ensure Americans would no longer have to change their clocks twice a year. "No more switching clocks, more daylight hours to spend outside after school and after work, and more smiles — that is what we get with permanent Daylight Saving Time,” Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, the original cosponsor of the legislation, said in a statement. Nearly a dozen states across the U.S. have already standardized daylight saving time. Members of Congress have long been interested in the potential benefits and costs of daylight saving time since it was first adopted as a wartime measure in 1942.

The Senate has unanimously approved a measure that would make daylight saving time permanent next year.

The Senate unanimously approved a measure Tuesday that would make daylight saving time permanent across the United States next year. The bipartisan bill, named the Sunshine Protection Act, would ensure Americans would no longer have to change their clocks twice a year. "No more switching clocks, more daylight hours to spend outside after school and after work, and more smiles — that is what we get with permanent Daylight Saving Time,” Sen. Ed Markey of Massachusetts, the original cosponsor of the legislation, said in a statement.

Ex-Facebook employee and whistleblower Frances Haugen implored lawmakers to avoid falling into the usual congressional stalemate as they weigh proposals to curb abuses in social media platforms by limiting the companies’ free-speech protections against legal liability.

A huge social and environmental policy bill passed by House Democrats includes a plan to impose a fee on emissions of methane.

Two congressional aides say Democrats have made significant progress on adding compromise provisions curbing prescription drug prices to their massive social and environment package.

As President Joe Biden visited one disaster site after another this summer he declared climate change “everybody’s crisis.”.

The thousands of pages being drafted and debated in Congress are the template for grand ambitions of the Biden agenda, a full funding of Democratic orthodoxy. “We’re doing hard things,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Democrats' campaign committee tasked with maintaining the party's slender majority. Among the Democrats' goals are priorities like universal child care and lower prescription drug prices that have been elusive for decades. Republicans have largely sidelined themselves from the debate, other than to say they are a hard “no” on Biden's priorities. “The American people voted for President Joe Biden and Democrats to deliver on the promises,” she said.

President Joe Biden’s “build back better” agenda is poised to be the most far-reaching federal investment since FDR’s New Deal or LBJ’s Great Society.

The thousands of pages being drafted and debated in Congress are the template for grand ambitions of the Biden agenda, a full funding of Democratic orthodoxy. “We’re doing hard things,” said Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney, D-N.Y., the chairman of the House Democrats' campaign committee tasked with maintaining the party's slender majority. Among the Democrats' goals are priorities like universal child care and lower prescription drug prices that have been elusive for decades. Republicans have largely sidelined themselves from the debate, other than to say they are a hard “no” on Biden's priorities. “The American people voted for President Joe Biden and Democrats to deliver on the promises,” she said.

President Joe Biden’s “build back better” agenda is poised to be the most far-reaching federal investment since FDR’s New Deal or LBJ’s Great Society.

A House committee has dealt an ominous setback to President Joe Biden’s social and environment package.

Americans are having a tough time paying for medications despite bipartisan efforts to drive down prescription drug prices.

Senior Democratic senators are introducing legislation that responds to the ravages of COVID-19 in nursing homes.

Congress Eviction Moratorium House Energy and Commerce Chairman Frank Pallone, D-N.J., left, and House Financial Services Committee Chairwoman Maxine Waters, D-Calif., go over their notes at the House Rules Committee as they prepare an emergency extension of the eviction moratorium, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, July 30, 2021. President Joe Biden called on "Congress to extend the eviction moratorium to protect such vulnerable renters and their families without delay." Scott Applewhite) (J. Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON — (AP) — Hours before a nationwide eviction moratorium is set to expire, Congress raced Friday to try to extend the ban in a longshot effort to prevent millions of Americans of being forced from their homes during a COVID-19 surge. A House panel convened to consider emergency legislation to extend the ban, which expires Saturday, through Dec. 31. The White House said Biden would have liked to extend the federal eviction moratorium due to spread of the highly contagious delta variant of the coronavirus.

Medicare is launching a formal process to decide whether to cover the new Alzheimer’s drug, Aduhelm, whose $56,000-a-year price tag and unproven benefits have prompted widespread criticism and a congressional investigation.

Tens of thousands of Oklahoma residents are now covered by health insurance as a result of Medicaid expansion in the state.

Democrats are committed to passing legislation this year to curb prescription drug prices.

WASHINGTON — (AP) — Two leading congressional Democrats issued a call Wednesday for ideas on a “public option” health insurance plan, a campaign promise of President Joe Biden's that faces long odds politically. But insurers are opposed, and much of the health care industry is wary. The Biden White House has been largely silent on the public option since he took office, focusing mainly on improving affordability and expanding coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Pallone and Murray have influential roles in the health care debate. A lot of work remains to craft public option legislation and unify Democrats around it.

Two leading congressional Democrats are calling for ideas on a “public option” health insurance plan, a campaign promise of President Joe Biden’s that faces long odds politically.

Sen. Murray and Rep. Pallone aim to write a bill to create a health-care public option, which President Biden has not put in his recovery plans.

A majority of Americans agree that government should help people age in their own homes, not institutional settings.

Scott Applewhite)WASHINGTON – The latest news from a House committee questioning the CEOs of Facebook, Google and Twitter. ___2:30 p.m.Rep. Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, raised the long-running conservative talking point that Twitter, Facebook and Google are biased against conservative viewpoints and censor material based on political or religious viewpoints. Scalise highlighted Twitter’s blocking of a New York Post article on Hunter Biden, which CEO Jack Dorsey said was a mistake that the company corrected within 24 hours. AdThis would include product vice presidents of integrity, trust and safety and vice presidents of platform policy — at Facebook, Twitter, YouTube (rather than Google, which owns YouTube) and perhaps an upstart like TikTok. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Sundar Pichai, CEO of YouTube parent Google, are facing questioning at a hearing by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

Now, the COVID-19 relief bill is offering states a generous funding boost for home- and community-based care as an alternative to institutionalizing disabled people. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)WASHINGTON – With the memory of the pandemic's toll in nursing homes still raw, the COVID-19 relief law is offering states a generous funding boost for home- and community-based care as an alternative to institutionalizing disabled people. As it has grown to cover about 1 in 5 Americans, it's also become the nation's default long-term care program, although qualifying is often an arduous process. While the federal government requires state Medicaid programs to cover nursing home care for low-income people, that's not the case for home- and community-based support services. For now, states and advocates for the disabled are awaiting guidance from the federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services on how the money in the COVID-19 law can be spent.

This Friday, Jan. 8, 2021 image shows the suspended Twitter account of President Donald Trump. On Friday, the social media company permanently suspended Trump from its platform, citing "risk of further incitement of violence." (AP Photo/Tali Arbel)Twitter banned President Donald Trump's account Friday, citing “the risk of further incitement of violence" following the deadly insurrection at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday. On Thursday, Facebook suspended Trump's account through Jan. 20 and possibly indefinitely. Twitter merely suspended Trump's account for 12 hours after he posted a video that repeated false claims about election fraud and praised the rioters who stormed the Capitol.

FILE - In this Oct. 10, 2020, file photo, President Donald Trump speaks from the Blue Room Balcony of the White House to a crowd of supporters in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)WASHINGTON – The Trump administration is trying to revive the president's stalled election-eve plan to send millions of Medicare recipients a $200 prescription discount card. White House spokesman Judd Deere confirmed the administration is continuing to move forward. “It’s simply good policy, and demonstrates President Trump is continuing to deliver on his promises to our nation’s seniors to lower drug prices." Pallone dismissed the latest White House push.

A White House official had no comment on the status of the prescription cards, which Trump announced with a flourish last month during a health care speech in Charlotte, N.C. We will provide more information about the prescription drug cards soon.”One administration official said the odds are 75-25 the plan will not happen. Among them:— The White House asserted that Medicare could legally send out the discount cards under its authority to conduct “demonstration programs” testing new ideas. The $200 would test if extra cash made seniors more likely to stay on their medications and avoid costly hospitalizations. “It would do relatively little for seniors with truly catastrophic prescription drug expenses,” she said.

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)WASHINGTON – The House has approved a modest bill to promote “clean energy” and increase energy efficiency while phasing out the use of coolants in air conditioners and refrigerators that are considered a major driver of global warming. The House approved the bill, 220-185, Thursday, sending it to the Senate, where a separate energy bill is pending. The Senate bill, like the House measure, would phase out hydrofluorocarbons, or HFCs, that are used as coolants, after an internal dispute among Senate Republicans was resolved earlier this month. It also boosts electric cars and programs to finance clean energy projects. House Republicans disputed that, saying the bill would cost more than $135 billion while including no serious reforms.

The measure needs to be passed by the end of the budget year on Sept. 30 to prevent a shutdown of nonessential government functions. As previously announced, the bill does not contain COVID-19 relief, leaving that issue in all likelihood for a post-election lame duck session — or for the next administration. The House is slated to pass the stopgap funding bill — called a continuing resolution, or CR in Washington-speak — next week. Earlier this week, Pelosi said the House would stay in session until a COVID-19 deal was reached. Instead, lawmakers appear likely to leave Washington next week and be on 24 hours' notice to return if there is a coronavirus relief deal to vote on.

The measure needs to be passed by the end of the budget year on Sept. 30 to prevent a shutdown of nonessential government functions. As previously announced, the bill does not contain COVID-19 relief, leaving that issue in all likelihood for a post-election lame duck session — or for the next administration. The House is slated to pass the stopgap funding bill — called a continuing resolution, or CR in Washington-speak — next week. Earlier this week, Pelosi said the House would stay in session until a COVID-19 deal was reached. Instead, lawmakers appear likely to leave Washington next week and be on 24 hours' notice to return if there is a coronavirus relief deal to vote on.

(AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)WASHINGTON A key House committee on Wednesday gave bipartisan approval to legislation to create national standards for the horse racing industry to prevent fatalities and discourage illegal medication practices. The Senate's top Republican said he would press to pass the bill before the year is out. The Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act" comes after the racing industry has been hit by a series of doping scandals and a rash of fatal breakdowns in recent years. The legislation is aimed at empowering an independent Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority with federal recognition and enforcement power to set uniform standards for medication, track safety, and testing of horses for PEDs. In recent years, tragedies on the track, medication scandals and an inconsistent patchwork of regulations have cast clouds over the future, McConnell said in a floor speech.

WASHINGTON With coronavirus cases rising in about half the states and political polarization competing for attention with public health recommendations, Dr. Anthony Fauci returns to Capitol Hill on Tuesday at a fraught moment in the nation's pandemic response. White House officials later tried to walk back Trump's comment on testing, suggesting it wasn't meant to be taken literally. Fauci has recently warned that the U.S. is still in the first wave of the pandemic and has continued to urge the American public to practice social distancing. Giroir was tapped by the White House to oversee the expansion of coronavirus testing. However, not all Republicans have lined up to defend the White House.

(Leah Millis/Pool via AP)WASHINGTON Compounding the hardships of the coronavirus, some nursing homes have demanded that low-income residents turn over their $1,200 economic stimulus checks, a cash grab lawmakers want to halt. Low-income Medicaid recipients must not be coerced into wrongly handing over their checks for fear of being kicked out of their homes, wrote Neal and Pallone. We are not aware of widespread issues with resident stimulus funds," the American Health Care Association said in a statement. Generally, a Medicaid recipients taxable income is taken into account in determining their eligibility for the program. CMS chief Seema Verma tweeted on Tuesday that nursing homes engaging in this behavior will be subject to enforcement action.

WASHINGTON The Trump administrations new strategy for coronavirus testing puts much of the burden on states while promising to provide supplies such as swabs and material to transport specimens. The plan, which was delivered Sunday to members of Congress, drew harsh criticism Monday from Democrats. In a joint letter, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer, New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone Jr. and Washington Sen. Patty Murray said the administration still does not have a serious plan for increasing testing to stop the spread of the virus.The report comes as the U.S. death toll from the pandemic is approaching 100,000. The HHS document, which The Washington Post first reported, recommends that all states have an objective of testing a minimum of 2 percent of their population in May and June.The Democratic lawmakers, who released the HHS report along with their joint letter, said it confirms that President Trumps national testing strategy is to deny the truth that there arent enough tests and supplies, reject responsibility and dump the burden onto the states.The Trump Administration still does not take any responsibility for ramping up our nations testing capacity, instead pushing the burden onto the states forcing states to compete with each other to procure vital supplies to administer tests from the private market, the lawmakers wrote. They also called on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to act on the $3 trillion virus release package passed earlier this month by the House, saying it would deliver a clear strategy and $75 billion for the testing and contact tracing necessary to stop the spread of this vicious virus.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - House Democrats and the Trump administration are close to a deal on a coronavirus economic aid package, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said on Friday, with a vote in the House of Representatives expected later in the day. In a CNBC interview, Mnuchin said negotiations with the House were going very well. He later told reporters at the White House that he had also spoken with Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, a Republican, and House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy earlier on Friday about the emerging deal. We will have support, Mnuchin told reporters. Any measure must pass both the Democratic-controlled U.S. House of Representatives and the Republican-controlled Senate before Trump could sign it into law.

(Reuters) - The Trump administration on Thursday announced a ban on some popular e-cigarette flavors, including fruit and mint, to curb rising teenage use of vaping products, allowing only menthol and tobacco flavors to remain on the market. President Donald Trumps administration in September proposed a sweeping ban on all e-cigarette and vaping flavors that are seen as attracting millions of young users to addictive nicotine products. That plan would have prohibited all e-cigarette flavors except tobacco. Thursdays announcement would have no impact on Juul, which has already pulled flavors except tobacco and menthol. All e-cigarette makers face a May deadline to apply to the FDA for permission to continue selling their products.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., is pushing to keep a key legal shield for tech companies out of a new trade agreement with Mexico and Canada. Language in the proposed trade agreement echoes that of Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act, a hotly debated portion of the law that protects online platforms from liability for their users' content. Having such language included in the agreement would be a boon for tech companies and would ensure certain legal protections for them abroad. On Twitter, Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., said he agreed with Pelosi's push to remove the legal protections from the agreement. But even after that letter, it's unclear if Pelosi will receive support from her Republican colleagues on keeping such language out of the USMCA.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Leaders of the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee on Tuesday asked the Food and Drug Administration about the potential threat to the U.S. heparin supply due to the outbreak of African swine fever in China. About 60 percent of the crude heparin used to make finished heparin in the United states is sourced from China, the letter said. Until the 1990s, the United States used sources of heparin produced from bovine sources until concerns were raised about Mad Cow disease. African swine fever, for which there is no cure and no vaccine, kills almost all infected pigs but does not harm people. As many as half of Chinas breeding pigs have either died from African swine fever or been slaughtered because of the disease, industry insiders estimate.