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In a rare show of bipartisanship over President Barack Obama's health care law, a Senate committee voted unanimously Wednesday to exclude veterans from the 50-worker threshold that triggers required coverage for employees under that statute. The Senate Finance Committee vote was 26-0, a departure from the usual party-line fights over Obama's showcase 2010 law. (Fram, 1/28)

The first Obamacare bill to get a vote in the new GOP-controlled Senate is not going to be legislation to repeal the law, defund the law or otherwise undermine the law. Instead, it’s an overwhelmingly bipartisan measure to exempt veterans from the law’s employer mandate count. (Haberkorn and Mershon, 1/28)

Division in Washington is nothing new, but gridlock and inaction seems not to be an option this year. A series of fiscal showdowns will be coming, starting with an end to Department of Homeland Security funding on Feb. 28, a sharp cut in physician payments under Medicare on March 31, the depletion of the highway trust fund on May 31, a debt-ceiling showdown this summer or fall and the return of across-the-board mandatory cuts known as sequestration on Oct. 1. (Weisman, 1/28)

Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) is renewing his effort to boost funding for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) at a time when he says declining research dollars is “threatening our standing as a leader” in scientific innovation. The bill, the American Cures Act, would create a mandatory funding stream to support research by the NIH, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other agencies. (Ferris, 1/28)

The medical device industry released a survey of its members Wednesday suggesting that 18,500 American jobs were lost due to the direct effects of a 2.3 percent excise tax on manufacturers that the companies want Congress to repeal. The Advanced Medical Technology Association President and CEO Stephen J. Ubl said the trade group, also known as AdvaMed, would use the survey to help increase support for repeal legislation. (Adams, 1/28)

The trade group for makers of generic medicines is objecting strongly to a provision regarding product exclusivity in a sweeping House proposal for overhauling regulation of health products, although it says it supports other items in the draft bill from Energy and Commerce Chairman Fred Upton. The response from the Generic Pharmaceutical Association may illustrate some of the challenges ahead for Upton and colleagues in crafting what they call the committee's "21st Century Cures" initiative. (Young, 1/28)

Lawyers for the White House are urging a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed by the Republican-led House of Representatives that alleges President Barack Obama illegally rewrote the new health law. The president in public comments has attacked the lawsuit as a stunt, but a court brief drafted by a team of Department of Justice lawyers marks the first time the White House has articulated to a judge why the case shouldn’t be heard. (Gershman, 1/28)