Dean Heller

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Washington's top tax official was fired on Wednesday as President Barack Obama sought to stem a rising tide of criticism over the Internal Revenue Service's improper targeting of conservative groups for special scrutiny. With three...

* Obama says he 'will not tolerate' partisan actions by IRS * Republicans vow to continue probes of agency * Investigations will look for any links to White House By Matt Spetalnick and Kim Dixon WASHINGTON, May 15 (Reuters) - Washington's top tax...

WASHINGTON -- The gun bill was going down, but Sen. Joe Manchin, the West Virginia Democrat who reached a compromise to try to save it, went to the Senate floor Wednesday morning to give it one more try. In an unorthodox tactic, he appealed directly...

WASHINGTON — After four months of debate and maneuvering, the Senate headed for a showdown over gun control — a series of back-to-back votes on rival plans Wednesday afternoon that could end in the collapse of the entire effort. The...

WASHINGTON -- A Senate plan to expand the background-check requirement for gun purchases faced a narrowing path to success Tuesday, as advocates for stricter laws sought to scrape together the last few votes they need from among a dwindling number of...

WASHINGTON -- Earlier this month, I wrote that the Senate was making quiet progress toward passing a gun control bill that would make background checks mandatory on buyers in almost all gun purchases, including most sales between individuals. And that,...

WASHINGTON -- The Republican-controlled House will vote next week to permit the government to borrow more money to meet its obligations, a move aimed at heading off a market-rattling confrontation with President Barack Obama over the so-called debt limit....

WASHINGTON — Democrats retained a narrow majority in the Senate on Tuesday, but Republicans kept their grip on the House, delivering another divided, and highly polarized, Congress. The balance of power was likely to shift by no more than a seat...

WASHINGTON -- Democrats retained a narrow majority in the Senate on Tuesday, but Republicans kept their grip on the House, delivering another divided, and highly polarized, Congress. The balance of power was likely to shift by no more than a seat or two,...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans vigorously pursued their last, longshot chances for taking control of the Senate — Pennsylvania topped their list — as Democrats remained cautiously optimistic that they'd retain their narrow majority...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney disavowed Senate candidate Richard Mourdock's comment that when a woman becomes pregnant during a rape "that's something God intended," but stood by his endorsement of the Indiana...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Just as Mitt Romney and other Republicans had cut into the Democrats' advantage with female voters, a tea party-backed Senate candidate's awkward remark — that if rape leads to pregnancy it's "something God intended" —...