4:07 pm

November 15
Aaron Blake

Obama, Pelosi, Leahy cheer on Batkid

Five-year-old leukemia survivor Miles, also known as Batkid, runs into a former bank vault to arrest the Riddler Nov. 15 in San Francisco.  (Ramin Talaie/Getty Images)

Five-year-old leukemia survivor Miles, also known as Batkid, runs into a former bank vault to arrest the Riddler Nov. 15 in San Francisco.  (Ramin Talaie/Getty Images)

A 5-year-old dressed as Batman has some of the most powerful people in America tweeting about him.

The Twitter feeds of President Obama, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) cheered on Batkid — a.k.a. Miles — who on Friday had his Make-A-Wish dream come true via an elaborate day spent traveling the streets of San Francisco as a miniature Batman.

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3:37 pm

November 15
Aaron Blake

Ethics panel says Rep. Owens accepted ‘improper’ travel expenses, closes two cases

The House ethics committee has closed investigations into two members of Congress, saying it found insufficient evidence that their privately sponsored trips to Taiwan violated House rules.

The committee did find that one of the members -- Rep. Bill Owens (D-N.Y.) -- accepted "improper" travel expenses, because his trip was planned in part by a lobbying firm tied to the Taiwanese government. Lobbyists are not allowed to plan such trips.

Owens previously reimbursed the expenses, after the firm's role was questioned, which the ethics committee says allows it to close the case.

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2:33 pm

November 15
Juliet Eilperin

Senior CMS official warned in mid-July HealthCare.gov could ‘crash,’ documents show

(Mike Segar/Reuters)

(Mike Segar/Reuters)

A senior official at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid warned colleagues on July 16 he was worried the online enrollment system could "crash" upon its Oct. 1 launch, according to new documents released Friday by the House Energy and Commerce Committee.

In an e-mail to his colleagues in which CMS officials discussed whether to give one of the primary contractors GCI Federal another $38 million to work on HealthCare.gov through February 2014, CMS deputy chief information officer Henry Chao questioned whether to provide the contractor with more money.

“I just need to feel more confident they are not going to crash the plane at take-off, regardless of price," Chao wrote.

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2:15 pm

November 15
Ed O'Keefe

House approves ‘Keep Your Health Plan Act’

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, arrives to vote on the Keep Your Health Plan Act, which he co-sponsored. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, arrives to vote on the Keep Your Health Plan Act, which he co-sponsored. (J. Scott Applewhite/AP)

The House approved a plan Friday permitting health insurance companies to continue selling policies that do not comply with the health-care law, a proposal that would allow more Americans to keep their current health plans while significantly weakening part of the Affordable Care Act.

Critics charged that the measure undercuts the central premise of the new law, but supporters said their plan fulfills President Obama's broken promise that Americans could continue with their current health coverage if they wish.

The "Keep Your Health Plan Act" passed overwhelmingly with 39 Democrats joining with Republicans to approve the measure. Four Republicans voted no on the measure.

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1:37 pm

November 15
David Nakamura

President Obama has ‘absolute confidence’ in Secret Service, White House says

President Obama has "absolute confidence in the leadership at the Secret Service," press secretary Jay Carney said Friday, despite new reports of sexual misconduct in the agency.

"The vast majority of men and women who work for the U.S. Secret Service exemplify the highest standards of service," Carney said at his daily briefing. 'They work day and night as professionals to protect the president and presidents before him and after him. ... Issues that have arisen, including the visit to Colombia and other issues that arise, the president is confident they will be fully investigated and action where appropriate will be taken."

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12:43 pm

November 15
Anne Gearan

Kerry makes much of Hillary Clinton at Georgetown symposium

Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of State John Kerry greet each other on stage at Gaston Hall at Georgetown University in Washington, Friday, Nov. 15, 2013, during the "Advance Afghan Women" symposium. Kerry and his predecessor, Clinton, said Afghanistan is reaching a turning point that will be critical to maintaining advances made by women since the end of Taliban rule. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)

Former secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton and Secretary of State John Kerry  at  Georgetown University on Nov. 15, 2013, during the "Advance Afghan Women" symposium.  (Carolyn Kaster/AP)

The political wattage in the front row — Hillary Rodham Clinton, Laura Bush, Secretary of State John F. Kerry, former Clinton aide Melanne Verveer and others — was meant to be a show of U.S. support for Afghan women ahead of the withdrawal of most U.S. forces from Afghanistan next year.

But Kerry had some tips for the men in the audience at Georgetown University on Friday.

“For all the men studying here at Georgetown, who sat in or sit in classrooms where Bill Clinton sat so many years ago, my advice to you is this: Study hard, go to Oxford, become governor of your state, and then maybe you can marry one of the country’s remarkable secretaries of state.”

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12:18 pm

November 15
Aaron Blake

Ex-Rep. Travis Childers (D) considering run for Mississippi Senate seat

Then-Rep. Travis Childers (D-Miss.) in July 2010.  (Thomas Wells/Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal via Associated Press)

Then-Rep. Travis Childers (D-Miss.) in July 2010.  (Thomas Wells/Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal via Associated Press)

Former congressman Travis Childers (D-Miss.) says he is considering entering the Mississippi Senate race next year — particularly if longtime Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) opts not to seek another term.

Conservative and tea party groups have lined up behind GOP candidate and state Sen. Chris McDaniel, who got into the race in advance of Cochran's announcement. The prospect of a hard-fought GOP primary has Democrats hoping to capitalize in a tough state.

Childers said he is "looking at it."

" 'Looking at it' is probably about what I would want to say right now," Childers told Post Politics. "I think a lot of folks are watching Senator Cochran to see what his moves are."

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9:49 am

November 15
Juliet Eilperin

Obama to meet with insurance CEOs Friday

(Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

(Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)

President Obama will meet Friday with insurance industry executives, many of whom are concerned that his proposal to allow insurers to let Americans keep their individual health care plans temporarily could disrupt the market and lead to higher premiums.

"Today CEOs from across the health insurance industry will be meeting with President Obama and senior administration officials to discuss ways to work together to help people enroll through the [federal health insurance] marketplace and efforts to minimize disruption for consumers as they transition to new coverage," wrote a senior administration official in an e-mail, asking not to be identified because the meeting had yet to take place.

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9:42 am

November 15
Aaron Blake

Top Democrat: Obama’s red line strategy on Syria ‘not well thought out’

The top Democrat on the House Armed Services Committee says President Obama's decision to draw a "red line" when it came to Syria using chemical weapons "was not well thought out."

"I don't think you draw a red line like that, that is not well thought out," Smith said during an appearance at the Council on Foreign Relations on Thursday. "You do not say, 'If you step across this line, we will commit U.S. military force,' unless you really mean it, unless you know the full implications of it."

Smith also accused the administration of not working with Congress on foreign policy and of making it look like it was developing that policy "on the fly."

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9:32 am

November 15
Sean Sullivan

NRCC chair Walden: Obamacare is a ‘category 5 political hurricane’

Rep. Greg Walden (Ore.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said Friday that he believes the 2014 midterm election will be a referendum on the problems with the rollout of President Obama's signature health-care law, which he likened to a very severe storm.

"Now that it has become a category 5 political hurricane, it is not just causing havoc in certain regions of the country," Walden said at a Christian Science Monitor breakfast in Washington. "It is ripping apart every region of the country."

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