by Elena Schneider | Mar 2, 2011 | Business, Politics
WASHINGTON — Citing an urgent need to curb the rising costs of Medicare and Medicaid, members of the Senate Finance Committee grilled two government health fraud experts Wednesday on the effectiveness and spending habits of their organizations. “As the number of...
by Elena Schneider | Mar 1, 2011 | Business
Chevy Chase, Md. — In any given day, Dr. Tiffini Lucas may examine a wailing, feverish two-year old, advise a senior on exercises for arthritic pain and remove an atypical mole from a middle-aged mother’s back. Lucas is a primary care physician. In 2005, she...
by Astrid Goh & Tara Longardner | Feb 16, 2011 | Business
WASHINGTON — Labor Secretary Hilda Solis told a House panel Wednesday that job training is among the department’s top priorities for the coming budget year. “The nation and the world that is emerging from the recession are different from the nation and the world...
by Lauren Schwartzberg | Feb 16, 2011 | Business, Politics
WASHINGTON—Two men with a history of unabashed sparring sat together on Capitol Hill Wednesday to push the need for a strong transportation bill that helps America upgrade its lagging infrastructure. Thomas J. Donahue, the president and CEO of the U.S. Chamber of...
by Alex Campbell | Feb 15, 2011 | Business, Politics
WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama on Tuesday defended his proposed budget as “step number one” of a long deficit-fixing process which he said would require a bipartisan commitment to entitlement reform. “We’re not going to be running up the credit card...
by Elisa Santana | Feb 15, 2011 | Business, Politics
WASHINGTON — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner faced heat from House Republicans Tuesday as he sought to defend President Barack Obama’s 2012 budget proposal. A day after the White House unveiled a budget plan for Congress to consider, Geithner faced the...
by Elisa Santana | Feb 9, 2011 | Business, Politics
WASHINGTON — Testifying to Congress for the first time since Republicans took control of the House, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Wednesday he’s confident with the Fed’s fiscal and monetary policies. But he was pressed hard in a series of tough...
by Lauren Schwartzberg | Feb 8, 2011 | Business, Environment, Politics
WASHINGTON— Influential environmental leaders and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency touted the benefits of “green jobs” on Tuesday. “Environmental protection and economic growth can and do go hand in hand,” EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson said...
by Nina Lincoff | Jan 26, 2011 | Business, Environment, Health & Science, Politics
WASHINGTON—Secretary of Energy Steven Chu on Wednesday began to put detail on President Barack Obama’s plan to use clean energy as an engine of job growth. “If there’s a cheap source of clean energy,” Chu said, “the world will gobble it up.” Echoing themes from the...
by Peter Larson | Jan 19, 2011 | Business, Politics
WASHINGTON — Comments and questions broke out on Twitter Wednesday when Chinese President Hu Jintao failed to answer a question from the Associated Press’s Ben Feller about his government’s controversial human rights record. Bloomberg’s Hans Nichols followed up on his...
by Peter Larson | Jan 18, 2011 | Business, National Security, Politics
WASHINGTON — Chinese President Hu Jintao comes to town this week with all the sentiment of cooperation, even as U.S. officials prepare to confront the leader on issues around defense, currency and human rights. Hu arrived Tuesday at Andrews Air Force Base in...
by Nina Lincoff | Jan 18, 2011 | Business, National Security, Politics
WASHINGTON — Chinese President Hu Jintao arrived Tuesday for a state visit amid protests and concerns over China’s human rights policies. The White House said Tuesday that President Barack Obama will address human rights with Hu during meetings on Tuesday and...