Palin Warns Again of 'Rationed' Care

The 'No Tax-Payer Funding for Abortion Act' gets HR3 stamp

(NEWSER) - House Republicans unveiled their next major legislative push yesterday: the No Tax-Payer Funding for Abortion Act, which, as its name implies, would ban federal funding of abortion. It would essentially make permanent the Hyde Amendment, which does the same thing but must be renewed each year. They introduced that legislation alongside the Protect Act, which would specifically ban abortion funding under the health care reform law. More»

White House reverses course, deletes references to counseling

(NEWSER) - The end-of-life counseling derided as "death panels" that was originally part of health care reform, then taken out, then put back in , is back out again. For now. The Obama administration has reversed itself and removed references to the counseling from new Medicare regulations that quietly went into effect at the start of the year. The administration apparently doesn't want that single issue to be a distraction as it defends overall health care reform from the new Republican House, reports the New York Times . More»

Conservatives react to Fox correspondent's analysis

(NEWSER) - Conservatives rushed to Juan Williams’ aid when NPR fired him—but now, he’s taking heat from the right for saying Sarah Palin “can’t stand on an intellectual stage with Obama.” On Fox News Sunday, the onetime NPR commentator said the field of Republican candidates was “weak,” and Palin was the only charismatic one—but she lacked the intellectual credentials to face the president. More»

Obama to add end-of-life planning to Medicare

(NEWSER) - Sarah Palin's "death panels" are back. The brouhaha surrounding end-of-life counseling forced Democrats to cut it from health care reform, but now President Obama is quietly adding the same policy to Medicare by rewriting regulations, reports the New York Times . Under the new policy, beginning Jan. 1 the government will pay doctors who advise patients on options for end-of-life care, which may include advance directives to forgo aggressive measures. More»

The Tea Party really made things interesting this year

(NEWSER) - From a January special election right up to the unexpectedly-productive lame duck Congress that just finished, 2010 was an incredible year in politics. Here's the rundown of Politico's top moments:

• Jan. 9, Scott Brown surges—The Republican took the lead in polls, sending uneasy Democrats into full-fledged panic mode. Just 11 days later, Brown did the unthinkable: Pulled Ted Kennedy's Senate seat into the GOP column (and touted his daughters' availability on national television).