Alexander: Cures bill deal could be reached by end of the week

Alexander: Cures bill deal could be reached by end of the week-thehill: Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chairman Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.) said Monday that a medical innovation bill could be ready for the Senate floor as early as next week.  The bill is the Senate’s companion to the House-passed 21st Century Cures Act, which seeks to speed up the Food and Drug Administration’s approvals of new drugs and devices and boost funding for medical research.

GOP appeal to conservatives with health care, immigrant cuts

GOP appeal to conservatives with health care, immigrant cuts-ap: Trying to win over conservatives, House Republicans are sweetening their budget proposal by putting several programs on the chopping block, including President Barack Obama's health care law and tax credits for children of immigrants living in the country illegally.

Supreme Court Rejects Challenge on ‘One Person One Vote’

Supreme Court Rejects Challenge on ‘One Person One Vote’-newyorktimes:  The Supreme Court unanimously ruled on Monday that states may count all residents, whether or not they are eligible to vote, in drawing election districts. The decision was a major statement on the meaning of a fundamental principle of the American political system, that of “one person one vote.”

Freedom Caucus Looks to Grow Its Ranks

Freedom Caucus Looks to Grow Its Ranks-nationaljournal: The House Free­dom Caucus “is draw­ing up a list of GOP-lean­ing open seats it could tar­get this year and is quietly meet­ing with pro­spect­ive can­did­ates for the seats of Free­dom Caucus mem­bers who are either re­tir­ing or run­ning for Sen­ate.

How House Democrats Shot Themselves in the Foot

How House Democrats Shot Themselves in the Foot-nationaljournal: If you’ve listened at all to House Demo­crats in re­cent years, you couldn’t help feel­ing pess­im­ist­ic about their pro­spects. The party down­played its chances to win back a House ma­jor­ity—un­til 2022. They blamed ger­ry­man­der­ing for their prob­lems, con­veni­ently ig­nor­ing the fact that dis­trict lines in Illinois, Mary­land, and Ari­zona were all drawn in the Demo­crats’ fa­vor.

Largely Forgotten and Hugely Influential: The Race for Marco Rubio’s Senate Seat

Largely Forgotten and Hugely Influential: The Race for Marco Rubio’s Senate Seat-newyorktimes: Representative Patrick Murphy, a two-term Democrat now running for United States Senate, looked exultant, maybe even a bit star-struck, as he greeted patrons and posed for selfies with Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. at Jackson Soul Food Restaurant in the city’s Overtown neighborhood.

This week: Senate returns to Supreme Court fight

This week: Senate returns to Supreme Court fight-thehill: President Obama's Supreme Court pick will meet with almost a dozen senators this week—including two Republican lawmakers—as Democrats keep up pressure on the nomination.  Republican Sens. Susan Collins (Maine) and John Boozman (Ark.) will sit down with nominee Merrick Garland on Tuesday as senators return from a two-week recess.