'Your papers, please' must never be heard in America
Nearly 6 million Americans _ significantly more than first estimated_ will face a tax penalty under President Barack Obama's health overhaul for not getting insurance, congressional analysts said Wednesday. Most would be in the middle class.
House Republicans will take one last shot at President Obama's executive authority before rushing home for November's elections when they vote this week on a bill blocking him from waiving work requirements from the bipartisan 1996 welfare reform law.
With the presidential campaigns entrenched in hand-to-hand fighting, Democrats are looking for a way to capture the voters' attention. They think they've found the edge with new policies designed to increase government dependency. The latest gambit would relieve benefit recipients of any personal responsibility.
Republicans are questioning the legality of a move by the Obama administration to absolve some states from a federal requirement that welfare recipients engage in "work activities."
Can the Internal Revenue Service police President Barack Obama's health care mandate while simultaneously collecting all the taxes for running the federal government?
The Supreme Court handed President Obama a major political victory on his signature health care issue Thursday, but the justices also provided Republicans with a sharper campaign issue by defining the law's individual mandate as a tax.
Republicans have finally figured out how to corner President Obama on the tax issue. Within six months, Americans will be hit with a $4.3 trillion tax hike supported by Mr. Obama. By moving to pass legislation next month to stop "Taxmaggedon," the GOP is putting itself on the side of ordinary Americans.
President Obama promised his health care reform law would save money and reduce costs. It wasn't true then; it's certainly not true now. Lower- and middle-class Americans already have seen their premiums go up. They feel the pinch from taxes on everything from a wheelchair to a bottle of aspirin. While waiting for the Supreme Court to rescue us from this disaster, Congress needs to provide relief.
Mitt Romney's campaign is distancing itself from a Republican-leaning super PAC's plan to run ads highlighting President Obama's ties to his controversial former pastor.
Congressional Republicans are debating whether the GOP conference ban on earmarks and limited tariff relief applies to "miscellaneous tariff bills," or MTBs. These bills reduce or eliminate import duties on certain manufactured goods that can't be bought domestically.
Thanks to Obamacare, more people will find themselves without health insurance. It turns out President Obama's signature accomplishment was so badly drafted that businesses are likely to find it more cost-effective to pay a government penalty than provide insurance to their employees.
Trying to build their case that President Obama's health care law will destroy traditional employer-sponsored insurance, House Republicans released a study Tuesday showing that the largest companies could save billions by kicking workers off their current health plans and pushing them into government-subsidized exchanges.
The House's top tax writer said Monday that he will listen to Mitt Romney's proposals for limiting tax breaks for the wealthy, but did not commit himself to adopting plans offered by the likely Republican presidential nominee.
After successfully blocking funding for the IRS to implement President Obama's health care law last year, Republicans recoiled at news this week that the administration is filtering a half-billion dollars to the agency so it can hire more agents to carry out the law's new requirements.
President Obama's health care overhaul marks its second anniversary this week, and from the way Republicans and Democrats on Capitol Hill are talking about it, you would think they are looking at two entirely different laws.
"I am astounded and appalled that the IRS targeted organizations based on their political beliefs," said Rep. Dave Camp, who as chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee is the nation's chief tax-law writer. "No American, regardless of political affiliation, should have their right to free speech threatened by the IRS."
IRS audit found political bias against conservatives; groups gave up after application delay →
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp, Michigan Republican, said he worried that adding Japan to the talks could slow progress toward a deal.
U.S. welcomes latecomer Japan to trans-Pacific trade talks →
