Posts Tagged ‘defend’

Roll Call: "Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) dismissed as a 'nonissue' a procedural maneuver House Democrats are eyeing to pass their health care overhaul in the wake of comments by Rep. Stephen Lynch (D-Mass.) that the move would be 'disingenuous' and harm Congressional credibility. House Democrats are considering a process that would allow them to avoid a separate vote on the unpopular Senate version ... Full story

Democratic leaders on Tuesday defended their possible use of a legislative maneuver that would allow House Democrats to pass the Senate health reform bill (HR 3590) in the chamber without members actually having to vote on it, the Washington Post reports. Under this maneuver -- known as a self-executing rule or "deem and pass" -- House Democrats would craft a rule for debate on the ... Full story

Lawmakers said Anthem Blue Cross, the California insurer that proposed raising premium rates for some individual policyholders by as much as 39 percent, sought to boost profits at the expense of its insured, the Los Angeles Times reports. During a congressional hearing Wednesday, "Democrats said internal documents from WellPoint Inc. showed that proposed rate increases of as much as 39% for California customers ... Full story

As it turns out, children were not the only ones with visions of sugar plums dancing in their heads over this past holiday season. In a new research report published in the January 2010 issue of the Journal of Leukocyte Biology, a team of scientists from the University of Texas Medical Branch and Shriners Hospitals for Children show how a compound from licorice root (glycyrrhizin ... Full story

A study of bacterial defence systems could lead to the development of new antibiotics, say US researchers. The study could also help industries that rely on bacteria, for instance to clean up pollution or manufacture chemicals or medical products. A team of scientists led by researchers at the University of Georgia has investigated how bugs ward off viruses that kill half the bacteria on Earth every two ... Full story

A new study in mice has revealed that the portion of the brain responsible for registering fear and even panic is equipped with a built-in chemical sensor that is triggered by a primordial terror – suffocation. The research team from University of Iowa hopes that their new discovery may help to explain and perhaps even correct what goes wrong in those who suffer from panic attacks. ‘The ... Full story

Emerging markets may be essential to the growth of the global drug industry, but that doesn’t mean growth comes easily in the developing world. It’s become pretty common for countries to fight with drug makers over prices. And patent disputes can crop up anywhere, as generic manufacturers look to get in on the action. Pfizer has faced both problems in ... Full story

U.S. public health officials defended the distribution of swine flu vaccines on Tuesday against criticism that their plan to protect Americans was confusing and over-optimistic. As of Monday, manufacturers had delivered 48.5 million doses of H1N1 vaccine, Dr. Anne Schuchat of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention told a Senate hearing. HHS had hoped to have as many as 120 million doses by now. In ... Full story

Democrats are still taking issue with particular votes of other House lawmakers on health care reform. Meanwhile, Speaker Nancy Pelosi is taking a hard line against the people in her caucus she thinks "threw me under the bus," Politico reports. Rep. Xavier Becerra faced criticism from Pelosi after he questioned her on giving up too easy on supporting a "robust" public option and on Monday as well ... Full story