In brief: Senate approves flood funding
WASHINGTON – As storm-soaked parts of the country reel from rains and floods, the Senate Banking Committee moved quickly Thursday to approve a five-year reauthorization of the National Flood Insurance Program, which expires Sept. 30.
The House of Representatives already has approved a bill.
The beleaguered program, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, is $18 billion in the red since payouts made after Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
Health care fight rejected by court
WASHINGTON – A federal appeals court in Virginia rejected two challenges to President Barack Obama’s health care law, saying the legal dispute over whether the government can require Americans to buy medical insurance should be put off for three years until the first taxpayers are hit with a penalty.
The decision injects a new element into a brewing election-year court showdown over Obama’s signature accomplishment. While the Supreme Court is poised to take up the issue early next year, the Virginia-based court decided federal law forbids judges from ruling on tax challenges until a tax penalty has been levied.
“This ruling has the potential to throw the mandate litigation for a big loop,” said University of Richmond law professor Kevin C. Walsh, a former Supreme Court clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia. “It could delay a ruling on the merits.”
Obama administration lawyers have been confident that the high court will ultimately uphold the law and rule that Congress has broad power to regulate the health insurance market. So far, however, the lower courts have been split.
Walsh said the Supreme Court is still likely to take up the issue in the next year and then decide for itself whether to rule on the constitutional issue or defer a decision until later.
NASA delays mission to moon
High winds at Cape Canaveral, Fla., forced the National Aeronautics and Space Administration to temporarily scrub the Thursday launch of its GRAIL mission to the moon. NASA said the next two launch opportunities will be today.
The two mirror-opposite spacecraft that comprise the Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory mission are scheduled to arrive at the moon on New Year’s Eve and New Year’s Day.
GRAIL-A and GRAIL-B will spend three months making 12 polar orbits of the moon each day.
Scientists predict the mission will provide a comprehensive map of the moon’s gravitational field, allowing them to better calculate the composition of its crust, mantle and core and adding to their understanding of the evolution of the rocky planets.