WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – Osama bin Laden likely had “some sort” of a support network inside Pakistan, President Barack Obama said on Sunday, but added it will take investigations by Pakistan and the United States to find out the nature of that support.

Obama’s interview on CBS’s “60 Minutes” program comes a week after bin Laden was killed by U.S. commandos in a garrison town a short drive from Islamabad, raising questions about whether Pakistan’s government had known of the al Qaeda leader’s whereabouts.

WASHINGTON/ISLAMABAD (Reuters) – The Obama administration took some heat off Pakistan on Sunday, saying it had no evidence that Islamabad knew Osama bin Laden was living in the country before he was killed by U.S. commandos in a garrison town a short drive from the capital.

Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani is scheduled to “take the nation into confidence” in parliament on Monday, his first statement to the people more than a week after the attack embarrassed the country and raised fears of a new rift between Islamabad and Washington.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans in Congress on Thursday appeared to back away from a contentious plan to overhaul Medicare, saying the fate of the healthcare program for the elderly may have to wait until after the 2012 elections.

As Vice President Joe Biden hosted bipartisan White House talks on cutting the $1.4 trillion U.S. deficit, House of Representatives Ways and Means Committee Chairman David Camp said his committee would not move forward on a Republican plan to privatize Medicare because it was not likely to win support from Democrats.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – In a renewed attack against President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul program, House Republicans voted on Tuesday to deny funding for a central element of the law that sets up marketplaces for people to shop for health insurance coverage.

The bill passed by the House of Representatives would rescind some $1.9 billion in grants that are being made available under the healthcare law to help states establish insurance exchanges where individuals and small businesses can shop for medical coverage plans.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republican lawmakers privately discussed ways Tuesday to better explain a proposed overhaul of a popular healthcare program for the elderly after a number of testy exchanges with constituents.

“Some members are feeling the heat,” a congressional aide said, referring to some voters’ reaction to a proposal by Paul Ryan, chairman of the House of Representatives Budget Committee, to gradually privatize the Medicare program.

WASHINGTON, April 26 (Reuters) – Republican lawmakers
privately discussed ways on Tuesday to better explain a
proposed overhaul of a popular healthcare program for the
elderly after a number of testy exchanges with constituents.

“Some members are feeling the heat,” a congressional aide
said, referring to some voters’ reaction to a proposal by Paul
Ryan, chairman of the House of Representatives Budget
Committee, to gradually privatize the Medicare program.

WASHINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) – Republicans pushing deep
cuts to U.S. government spending are seeking to reassure older
Americans that their health insurance will remain intact even
if Medicare is privatized.

Elderly voters could be pivotal in the 2012 election, where
both Democrats and Republicans will be judged for proposed cuts
to the federal health insurance program to reduce deficits.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A Republican proposal for sweeping changes to Medicare and Medicaid healthcare programs appears unlikely to pass Congress, but could electrify the debate over the budget going into next year’s elections.

House of Representatives Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan is set to outline a budget plan on Tuesday that is expected to propose phasing out traditional pay-for-service Medicare and instead provide government subsidies for the elderly to obtain healthcare through private insurers.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday accused the AARP of gaining financially from President Barack Obama’s healthcare overhaul, which the influential elderly advocacy group supported.

Republican members of a House Ways and Means subcommittee grilled AARP Chief Executive Officer Barry Rand and AARP President Lee Hammond on the non-profit organization’s health insurance operations. Rand defended the group’s policy positions and said money received from insurance licensing agreements is used to pay for its social-welfare mission.