Independent voices from the TWT Communities
While President Obama said Monday that he is withholding judgment on the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups, angry congressional leaders from both parties aren't waiting — they plan to begin hearings on the matter this week.
As House Republicans head to Williamsburg, Va., to talk strategy at their annual retreat, a top Democratic pollster warned Wednesday that voters think the GOP has fallen outside the mainstream on everything from taxes to gay rights.
Adding to the growing sense on Capitol Hill that tax reform is dead for now, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means committee said Tuesday that he is "not confident" that Congress will reshape the federal tax code this year.
Warning that more than 2 million Americans are poised to lose their long-term unemployment insurance, some Democrats are calling on Congress to extend the "economic lifeline" before it expires next month.
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.
In a display of election-year bravado, the House approved a short-term $46 billion tax cut on Thursday that would affect virtually every business in America but faces near-certain rejection by Senate Democrats.
In a display of election-year bravado, the House approved a short-term $46 billion tax cut on Thursday that would affect virtually every business in America but faces near-certain rejection by Senate Democrats.
Partisan gridlock still reigns on Capitol Hill, but there's one thing lawmakers agree on — trade penalties for China.
The Obama administration, looking to capitalize on an improving economy, rising poll numbers and a suddenly more receptive Congress, went to Capitol Hill Wednesday to ask lawmakers to give the president more leeway to crack down on unfair trade practices of China and other countries.
President Obama's plan to overhaul the country's corporate tax system — unveiled by Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner on Wednesday — calls for cutting the overall tax rates for businesses while eliminating loopholes and special subsidies for certain industries.
House Republican leaders spent Wednesday trying to finalize a payroll-tax cut deal with Democrats and also sell the agreement to reluctant members of their own party, hoping to avoid the embarrassment of losing a large chunk of their caucus in an eventual floor vote.
A partisan debate over the federal unemployment benefits program is threatening tenuous Capitol Hill negotiations on a deal to extend the expiring payroll-tax holiday.
President Obama's request for greater power to shrink the size of the federal government is getting mixed reviews in Congress, with even some prominent Democrats opposed to parts of the plan and others warning against handing the executive branch too much power.
It took two months, but a sliver of President Obama's jobs-stimulus plan is finally on its way to his desk after the House gave a final sign-off Wednesday to new tax credits to promote hiring of veterans and a repeal of the so-called "withholding tax" that was set to bite government contractors in 2013.
The House overwhelmingly passed a slim portion of President Obama's jobs package Thursday, but the striking outbreak of bipartisanship is likely short-lived with no easy follow-up bill on the schedule and both sides still avoiding compromise.
Rep. Sander M. Levin said this week that in his 30-plus years on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee he has never seen such a radicalization of the Republican conference, and blamed gridlock in Congress on the tension within the party ranks.
Viewed as out of touch, GOP gathers forces to plot rebirth →
"I think that the results of that were shown in the difficulty that the speaker had in the last few weeks," Mr. Levin said.
Viewed as out of touch, GOP gathers forces to plot rebirth →
