Washington’s influence industry sees Speaker John Boehner’s (R-Ohio) designation of tax reform as H.R. 1 as just the latest sign that the issue will be front-and-center this year. Accordingly, lobbyists are ramping up their outreach to Capitol Hill as lawmakers look to roll back tax breaks and lower rates for the first time since 1986.

The Campaign to End Obesity is applauding legislation introduced by House Ways and Means Committee Democrat Ron Kind that includes a wide range of policies that aim to tackle the obesity epidemic. Kind’s Healthy Choices Act aims to improve prevention and treatment opportunities, increase access to physical activities for adults and children, expand nutrition training and realign transportation policies to promote healthier lifestyle, and support research.

The Supreme Court handed President Obama and the supporters of the Affordable Care Act a significant victory today by finding the issue at the center of the law’s structure — the Individual Mandate — was allowable under the Congress’ taxing powers in the Constitution.  The entire decision can be found here.  Below is a quick summary and initial thoughts.

There’s a growing chorus complaining that the Senate is broken, that Republicans are to blame, and that the rules of procedure need to be changed. This argument has any number of flaws, but at its core it relies on a general misrepresentation of how the Senate, and the filibuster in particular, works.

VennSquared Communications and Venn Strategies, LLC have  launched a major strategic partnership with Luther Pendragon, the leading independent public affairs and communications firm headquartered in London.  The partnership will serve as a means of providing additional reach for both VennSquared’s and Venn Strategies’ increasing work on behalf of global interests.

Lawmakers will have to cross a minefield laid by K Street in order to achieve the kind of comprehensive tax reform that they envision.

Stephanie Silverman, CEO of Venn Strategies, and Michael Meehan, president of Blue Line Strategic Communications announce the launch of Venn² Communications, a full service communications and public relations company.

Venn Strategies, LLC, a leading public affairs and government relations firm in Washington, DC, today announced that two members of its senior management team have been made Principals.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) plans to focus on the implementation of its new pharmacovigilance legislation and the pending falsified drug legislation throughout 2011, according to its work program announcement on Feb. 11, 2011.

Coping with an increasingly global device and drug industry will require a paradigm shift that relies less on FDA’s own staff and more on data and resource sharing with other countries, the agency says.

U.S. regulators plan to outsource more inspections of overseas factories within the next decade after criticism from Congress about a lack of oversight for food and drugs made in other countries.

Reauthorization of FDA user fees, scheduled for consideration by Congress next year, is expected to pass on a largely bipartisan basis and is unlikely to involve the kind of political controversy currently surrounding the Obama administration’s healthcare legislation.