Ways and Means Committee

Ousted IRS chief regrets treatment of tea party

By Alan Fram, Stephen Ohlemacher | May 17, 2013

A top House Republican charges that the IRS's improper use of tougher scrutiny of conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status seems part of a broader pattern of intimidation and cover-ups by the Obama administration.
Obama picks budget official to run IRS

By Stephen Ohlemacher | May 17, 2013

President Barack Obama picked a senior White House budget official to become the acting head of the Internal Revenue Service on Thursday, the same day another top official announced plans to leave the agency amid the controversy over agents targeting tea party groups.
Justice investigating IRS targeting of tea party

By Stephen Ohlemacher | May 15, 2013

The Justice Department is opening a criminal investigation of the IRS just as another probe concludes that lax management enabled agents to improperly target tea party groups.
Dems, GOP talk deficit reduction

By Charles Babington | April 25, 2013

Liberals' loud objections to White House proposals for slowing the growth of huge social programs make it clear that neither political party puts a high priority on reducing the deficit, despite much talk to the contrary.
Will the group health dam break, or just leak a little?

By Allison Bell | April 24, 2013

Whether the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act health insurance exchanges will work was one of the questions that kept coming up Wednesday at a hearing on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services fiscal year 2014 budget proposal.
Pension group pushes Congress to kill proposed retirement savings cap

By Paula Aven Gladych | April 22, 2013

Tax incentives for retirement savings have a major impact on lower-earning employees and small business owners, so eliminating these incentives could be catastrophic to the industry.
Sebelius insists exchanges will open Oct. 1

By Allison Bell | April 19, 2013

U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius assures yet another congressional panel that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act exchanges will open on schedule.
Judges sue Social Security over case quotas

By Stephen Ohlemacher | April 19, 2013

A lawsuit claims judges struggling to handle a surge of disability cases sometimes award benefits they might otherwise deny in order to clear cases faster so they can meet quotas imposed by the Social Security Administration.
Plan for $1.5 billion in pension bonds stalls in Kansas

By John Hanna | April 4, 2013

Legislation authorizing $1.5 billion in bonds to bolster the Kansas pension system for teachers and government workers has stalled in the state Senate, and one advocate said Wednesday that the bill is “dead in the water.”
Kansas House OKs budget

By John Milburn | March 21, 2013

Kansas senators gave first-round approval Wednesday to their version of the next state budget, including language that would require legislative approval before the state could expand Medicaid coverage.