“So is health care reform shaping up to be the main issue of the 2014 mid-term election?”

“I think many Republicans want to make it the key issue…As always though, in our national elections, the economy will play a big factor. If the American economy is improving, President Obama may get some credit for that and Democrats in Congress may benefit from that. So it usually is very important as to who wins elections, what the election is about.

"So if Republicans can keep democrats in a defensive way on the health care law they probably will try to make it the most important issue in the election. But, Democrats are hoping the implementation goes smoother, so that takes away an issue from the Republicans and they can talk about something else.”

VOA Correspondent Jim Malone, thank you for joining us today.

Natural Disasters Are a Barrier to Ending Extreme Poverty

From American politics, we turn our attention to fighting poverty around the world. A new report says natural disasters will stand in the way of ending extreme poverty unless more is done to prepare for such events. Jim Tedder has more on the story.

Disasters like this flood in Peshawar, Pakistan, hurt people and their livlihoods.

Britain’s Overseas Development Institute, or ODI, prepared the new report. It says that droughts, floods and other natural disasters are barriers to ending extreme poverty. The ODI report defined extreme poverty as living on less than one dollar and 25 cents a day.