The man who led the Internal Revenue Service when it was inappropriately scrutinizing conservative groups' applications for tax-exempt status said Tuesday that he intentionally kept himself in the dark about those kinds of decisions because he thought, as a political appointee, he should keep his distance.

Douglas H. Shulman, who ...

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

You know you are a serious societal pestilence when even politicians can kick you around. Which is why the Senate Finance Committee called Steven Miller, former acting IRS commissioner, to testify about the agency's scheme targeting conservatives for tax punishment.

Right away, Mr. Miller got down to the business ...

CONCORD, N.H. — The national debate over gun control has spilled over into New Hampshire where Sen. Kelly Ayotte is defending her vote against stricter gun laws and deriding the Mayors Against Illegal Guns group that is attacking her as carpetbaggers who don't understand her state's voters.

At stake is ...

A class-action lawsuit filed in federal court in San Diego says 15 IRS agents illegally seized the medical records of more than 10 million Americans, including California judges and their families, members of the Screen Actors Guild and Major League Baseball players.

The lawsuit, filed last month in Superior Court ...

With less than two weeks to go before their springtime adjournment, Illinois lawmakers are being pressured on whether they will make their state the 13th to approve gay marriage.

On Tuesday, former President Bill Clinton urged members of the Illinois House to vote for gay marriage as a way to ...

Yes, President Obama's birth certificate was made public two years ago and even emblazoned upon a Democratic fundraiser coffee mug during the 2012 presidential campaign. But the "birther" issue which so intrigued Donald Trump has yet to disappear.

"Since before he was elected, President Obama has been dogged by rumors ...

The Senate immigration bill cleared the Judiciary Committee on a bipartisan vote Tuesday night, ducking — for now — big fights on guns, gay rights and how broadly the legalization is drawn, and leaving the 867-page overhaul mostly unscathed by conservative attacks.

On the fifth day of committee voting, the ...

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday urged Congress not to extend import sanctions on Myanmar, warning that sticking with the sanctions would be "a slap in the face" to reformers in the Southeast Asian nation.

Mr. McConnell said Congress must end the sanctions as an acknowledgement of the reforms ...

An attorney for the high-ranking IRS official who ignited the agency's political targeting scandal with a public apology this month plans to invoke her right to remain silent instead of answering questions from top House investigators on Wednesday.

Lois Lerner was arguably the most important witness scheduled to testify before ...

President Obama faces mounting bipartisan pressure for the U.S. to become more deeply involved in Syria's civil war, with a key Senate panel pushing through legislation Tuesday that would clear the way for the administration to supply weapons to rebels fighters in the Mideast nation.

It was not yet clear ...

The White House revealed that it had even deeper knowledge of the IRS scandal than it first let on when press secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday that a top aide to President Obama talked with a Treasury Department official about how to break the news of the agency's improper targeting ...

True the Vote — one of the conservative groups the IRS subjected to special scrutiny when it applied for tax-exempt status — sued the federal government on Tuesday, demanding the tax agency approve its application that has now been pending for three years.

Other lawsuits are expected this week on ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawmakers are seeking to prohibit the United States from removing missile defense equipment from East Asia, even if the threat posed by a nuclear-armed North Korea is eliminated.

The legislative proposal is a response to remarks last month by Secretary of State John F. Kerry that the ...

The Senate immigration bill's authors acknowledged Tuesday that their legislation does not require illegal immigrants to pay all back taxes, saying it would be too difficult to make them ante up everything they might owe.

Sen. Charles E. Schumer, the New York Democrat who is chief sponsor of the bill, ...

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court Tuesday backed the U.S. government's decision not to release photos and video taken of Osama bin Laden during and after a raid in which the terrorist leader was killed by U.S. commandos.

The three-judge panel of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for ...

Democratic lawmakers on the Senate Finance Committee said Tuesday the IRS, while engaging in "unacceptable" targeting of conservative groups, may have been set up for failure by campaign finance law ambiguities that allowed tax-exempt groups to engage in partisan politics without disclosing their donors.

In the Senate's first hearing on ...

House Speaker John A. Boehner said repeatedly on Tuesday that he will work with the Obama administration to make sure that it has the resources it needs to support Oklahoma in the wake of the deadly tornado that swept through the state Monday.

"Our hearts and our prayers go out ...

Sen. Chuck Schumer is facing increasing pressure from members of the gay community to make sure any immigration reform he puts his stamp on includes rights for same-sex couples.

In a recent meeting described by attendees as heated, Mr. Schumer reached out to prominent New York gay politicians and activists ...

Democratic Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse took Republicans to task on the Senate floor for failing to properly address climate change, referencing the ongoing tornado devastation in the Midwest as proof of that immediate action is needed.

"So, you may have a question for me," the Rhode Island Democrat said, The Daily ...

ANALYSIS/OPINION:

The Republicans who can't wait to talk impeachment should sit down, shut up, and be patient. President Obama may yet deserve impeachment, but we're not there yet. Patience, as anyone old enough to remember Watergate knows, is how this game is played.

Republicans tempted to reach too far too ...