Free Republic

House Democrats blocked legislation on Thursday that would have permanently extended three tax credits for charitable giving, ending an effort to give nonprofits a last-minute victory. The bill got a strong majority in the House, with 275 members voting for it, including 47 Democrats. But the measure fell eight votes short of the two-thirds majority it needed to pass, with 149 Democrats voting against it after House Democratic leaders whipped against it and President Obama threatened a veto. The vote ends a last-ditch effort by the nonprofit sector to get three of its priorities into law for good, after a...

...Interview after interview of IRS employees by congressional investigators began to expose the inconsistencies in the administration’s narrative. There were no “rogue” agents, only employees who followed the implicit or explicit directions of more senior IRS officials in Washington. When Washington told Cincinnati IRS employees to “hold” other tea party cases while officials in Washington scrutinized early “test cases” concerning the group, they did it. When Washington told them to assign a tea party case coordinator, they obliged. Employees also told investigators that the IRS chief counsel’s office was not, as the American people were first led to believe, merely...

Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), the top Republican on the House Ways and Means Committee, told reporters yesterday that investigators have found the IRS targeting scandal did not start in Cincinnati. Cincinnati IRS Agents Say Targeting Orders Came From Washington– (VIDEO-AT-LINK) The Hill reported: The IRS’s singling out of conservative groups did not originate in Cincinnati, the House Republican in charge of tax policy said Wednesday. House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) said bipartisan interviews conducted by House investigators had found out that the targeting did not occur in the IRS offices in Ohio that have been at...

House Speaker John Boehner’s top allies are racing out the door to retirement, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday. Top Boehner allies that are retiring in 2014 include four committee chairmen: Reps. Mike Rogers (R-MI) of the Intelligence Committee, Buck McKeon (R-CA) of the Armed Services Committee, Doc Hastings (R-WA) of the Natural Resources Committee and Dave Camp (R-MI) of the Ways and Means Committee. One of Boehner closest friends, Rep. Tom Latham (R-IA), is retiring this year, and another—Rep. Mike Simpson (R-ID)—may lose his seat in a primary in Idaho against conservative Bryan Smith. “In a Capitol where accomplishments are...

MIDLAND, MI — Less than 24 hours after U.S. Rep. Dave Camp, R-Midland, announced he will not seek re-election in November, Midland's state senator announced he will run for Camp's seat. State Sen. John Moolenaar, R-Midland, issued a press release Tuesday afternoon, April 1, stating he will seek election to represent Michigan's 4th Congressional District. "I will be a strong conservative voice for the hard working families of mid and northern Michigan," Moolenaar said. "In Michigan I have fought against overreaching government policies that are killing jobs and overburdening individuals." Camp announced late in the day Monday, March 31, that...

Rep. Dave Camp (R-Mich.), chairman of the powerful tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, plans to retire after his current term, he announced Monday. Camp said in a statement that his decision "was reached after much consideration and discussion with my family. Serving in Congress is the great honor of my professional life. I am deeply grateful to the people of the 4th Congressional District for placing their trust in me. Over the years, their unwavering support has been a source of strength, purpose and inspiration. During the next nine months, I will redouble my efforts to grow our economy...

Darrell Issa seen plowing ahead with IRS probe amid new evidence By JOHN BRESNAHAN and LAUREN FRENCH | 3/7/14 2:00 PM EST Updated: 3/7/14 3:53 PM EST Not even a trove of new evidence will stop Darrell Issa from going after Lois Lerner’s testimony. The House Oversight Committee Chairman is plowing forward with plans to hold the former IRS official in contempt of Congress - possibly as early as next week - despite word from the tax agency that it plans to hand over a broad set of documents spanning Lerner’s entire career at the IRS. Republicans have long sought...

House Republicans haven’t even officially unveiled their massive plan to overhaul the tax code and the top Republican in the Senate is already pronouncing it dead. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said Tuesday he sees no hope for enacting tax overhaul legislation this year. He blamed Democrats for trying to use the issue to raise revenue by $1 trillion. McConnell said the object of overhauling the tax code should be making the nation more competitive, not raising more money for the government. McConnell’s remarks came a day before the Republican chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee,...

The Republican-controlled U.S. House passed a bill to extend the nation's debt ceiling without any conditions until March 2015. The bill passed 221 to 201 on Tuesday, with only 28 Republicans voting yes and two Democrats voting no. Of those 28 Republicans, one was from Michigan: U.S. Rep Dave Camp, R-Midland. The vote comes after several years of political debate about raising the debt ceiling. Republicans have wanted to cut spending and not raise the amount of money the nation can borrow while Democrats have said it's important for the country's financial standing to continue to fund previously made obligations....

Today Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), the chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, confirmed that 100% of the established 501(c)(4) groups the IRS selected for audit were conservative. But Obama says their was not a smidgen of corruption in the IRS. The Wall Street Journal reported: A Republican House committee chairman said the Internal Revenue Service targeted tax-exempt conservative groups for audits, widening the scope of GOP ire over the agency’s oversight of political activities. House Democrats pushed back, saying Republicans were seeking to use the IRS controversy to score political points with their conservative base in an election...

The following Republicans voted Tuesday to raise the government's borrowing limit: John Boehner, R-Ohio. Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy,R-Calif. Chief Deputy Whip Pete Roskam, R-Ill. Ken Calvert, R-Calif. Dave Camp, R-Mich. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. Hal Rogers, R-Ky. Dave Reichert, R-Wash. Chris Collins, R-N.Y. Howard Coble, R-N.C. Charlie Dent, R-Pa. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. Pete King, R-N.Y. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J. Buck McKeon, R-Calif. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa. Gary Miller, R-Calif. Ed Royce, R-Calif. John Runyan, R-N.J. John Shimkus, R-Ill. Chris Smith, R-N.J. David Valadao, R-Calif. Frank Wolf,...

House Ways and Means chairman Rep. Dave Camp vowed that “there will be consequences” after revealing secret emails that embattled Washington-based IRS official Lois Lerner sent to her colleagues suggesting collusion between the IRS and Democratic operatives and claiming that tea party applications should not be processed through the agency’s Cincinnati office.“Tea Party Matter very dangerous… Counsel and Judy Kindell need to be in on this one… Cincy should probably NOT have these cases,” Lerner said in a February 2011 email, despite the fact that IRS officials initially claimed that the agency’s Cincinnati office was solely responsible for the improper...

House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) announced Friday that he will not seek Michigan’s open Senate seat in 2014. Rep. Dave Camp (Photo by Katherine Frey/The Washington Post) “I will continue to put my full focus and effort on serving my constituents in mid- and northern-Michigan as their Representative and as Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee,” Camp said in a statement. “That includes creating a stronger economy by making the tax code more effective and efficient; opening new markets for American goods services; and critical oversight of Obamacare and the

In a remarkable admission that is likely to rock the Internal Revenue Service again, testimony released Thursday by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp reveals that an agent involved in reviewing tax exempt applications from conservative groups told a committee investigator that the agency is still targeting Tea Party groups, three months after the IRS scandal erupted..

Rep. David Camp (R-Mich.) will decide whether or not to run for Senate by next January. “I always knew I was going to be on the ballot. We run every two years in the House. “I just don’t know where I’m going to be on the ballot at this point,” he told Bloomberg TV in an interview airing Friday evening. “I think certainly by January, I’ll be able to know whether I’m going to do one or the other.” He said he was being encouraged to look at the race for the seat being vacated by Sen. Carl Levin (D)....

Leading Democrats are putting together fallback proposals if Washington fails to reach a deal on the “fiscal cliff” that would allow the party to cast itself as seeking to cut taxes. “Of course, I’ve got a backup plan in the event that we don’t succeed here,” Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, said Friday. “I’m sure the White House has one too.” Tax rates are set to expire on most households in January if Congress does not act to extend some of the rates, something some Democrats have long seen as giving their party an advantage....

House Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp (R-Mich.) will undergo treatment for cancer, which was discovered during a recent yearly physical. Camp will receive chemotherapy for non-Hodgkins lymphoma every three weeks over the next several months leading up to the election. The panel chairman said he will continue working. “After a recent routine yearly physical, it was discovered that I have a very early, highly treatable and curable type of non-Hodgkins lymphoma — large B-cell lymphoma," he said in a statement. "In between treatments I will continue my work as a United States Representative for Michigan’s fourth district and as...

Video

The United States is now, officially, the worst place to do business in the developed world. On Sunday, Japan lowered its corporate tax rate in the hopes of luring business to its shores, handing the title of highest tax rate to the Land of the Free. The market reaction on Monday will tell whether money will begin flowing away from us and toward the more business-friendly Asian country. Japan’s combined corporate tax rate went down from 39.8 percent to 36.8 percent on its way to 34.5 percent within a few years. The U.S. federal rate is 35 percent and the...

A top House Republican is facing a swell of pressure from Jewish communities across the country as they lobby, not for legislation, but for his intervention in the personal life of an adviser. The adviser, Aharon Friedman, has been shunned by Jewish leaders for refusing to grant his ex-wife a religious divorce known as a "get."