Thursday,  June 12, 2014 • Vol. 16--No. 329 • 25 of 32

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third of those who say they regularly vote in primaries have all-or-nothing ideological views, as do 41 percent who say they have donated money to a campaign.
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After 2 votes, Congress hopes to send veterans' health care bill to White House

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- After two overwhelming votes in two days, members of Congress say they are confident they can agree on a bill to improve veterans' health care and send it to the president's desk by the end of the month.
• The Senate easily approved a bill Wednesday to help shorten wait times for thousands of military veterans seeking medical care, a day after the House unanimously adopted a similar measure.
• The Senate bill would authorize about $35 billion over three years to pay for outside care for veterans, as well as hire hundreds of doctors and nurses and lease 26 new health facilities in 17 states and Puerto Rico. The House would spend about $620 million over the same period.
• Just three lawmakers -- all Republican senators -- voted against the veterans measures, compared with 519 lawmakers who voted in favor.
• Opponents said the Senate bill was a "blank check" to spend billions of dollars with little or no way to rein it in.
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For White House, Cantor's defeat eliminates an irritant but brings little joy

• WASHINGTON (AP) -- For years, the White House saw House Majority Leader Eric Cantor as a chief driver of Republicans' staunch opposition to nearly all of President Barack Obama's agenda. Now, Cantor's stunning primary loss seems likely to make politics even more difficult for Obama.
• Rather than opening a pathway for the president, Cantor's defeat could push Republicans more to the right and harden the House GOP's hostility toward the White House, virtually dooming Obama's efforts to pass a legacy-building immigration bill or other major legislation.
• Robert Gibbs, a longtime Obama adviser, said any glee at the White House over Cantor's defeat was "quickly replaced by the reality that this is the end of anything productive getting done legislatively in Congress either this year or maybe for the next several years."

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