U.S. Government News Headlines

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite Democratic fears, predictions of the demise of President Barack Obama's agenda appear exaggerated after a week of cascading controversies, political triage by the administration and party leaders in Congress and lack of evidence to date of wrongdoing close to the Oval Office.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service is feeling the sort of heat that targeted taxpayers feel from the tax agency. It's the sense that a powerful someone is breathing down your neck.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Seeking maximum political gain from the string of controversies swirling around the White House, Republicans are on the attack against Democratic lawmakers who accepted donations from the union that represents Internal Revenue Service employees.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The night of smoke, chaos, gunfire and grenades that killed four Americans in Benghazi, Libya, is well-documented. Eight months later, it is the decisions made back in Washington that remain murky and in perpetual dispute.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Energy Department on Friday conditionally approved a Texas company's proposal to export liquefied natural gas, only the second such project allowed to move forward amid a production boom that has led to glut of domestic natural gas.

WASHINGTON (AP) — There's an irony in the Internal Revenue Service's crackdown on conservative groups.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Obama administration denounced Russia on Friday for providing Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime with anti-ship missiles, saying the weapons would only worsen a war that Washington and Moscow have been promising to work together on stopping.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The head of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee has subpoenaed the co-chairman of the independent review board that investigated last year's attack on the U.S. diplomatic mission in Benghazi, Libya, to answer questions about the panel's findings behind closed doors.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel on Friday ordered the military to recertify all 25,000 people involved in programs designed to prevent and respond to sexual assault, an acknowledgement that assaults have escalated beyond the Pentagon's control.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Senior Treasury officials were made aware in June 2012 that investigators were looking into complaints from tea party groups that they were being harassed by the Internal Revenue Service, a Treasury inspector general said Friday, disclosing that Obama administration officials knew there was a probe during …

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama is calling attention to his economic proposals and efforts to expand the middle class.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama's budget would trim projected federal deficits by $1.1 trillion over the coming decade, using nearly $6 in higher revenues for every $1 in reduced spending to achieve it, Congress' nonpartisan budget analyst said Friday.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The growing use of unmanned surveillance "eyes in the sky" aircraft raises a thicket of privacy concerns, but Congress is getting mixed advice on what, if anything, to do about it.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Despite Democratic fears, predictions of the demise of President Barack Obama's agenda appear exaggerated after a week of cascading controversies, political triage by the administration and party leaders in Congress and lack of evidence to date of wrongdoing close to the Oval Office.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Internal Revenue Service is feeling the sort of heat that targeted taxpayers feel from the tax agency. It's the sense that a powerful someone is breathing down your neck.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Political scandals have strange ways of causing collateral damage, and Republicans are hoping the furor over federal tax enforcers singling out conservative groups will ensnare their biggest target: President Barack Obama's health care law.

ATLANTA (AP) — Republicans aren't the only ones roiled by internal jostling and recruiting hiccups ahead of next year's midterm elections.

BALTIMORE (AP) — President Barack Obama tried on Friday to leave behind the political battles that have overshadowed his second-term agenda, saying lawmakers should work on creating more middle-class jobs in the slowly growing economy. "Our work is not done, and our focus cannot drift," Obama said.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Guest lineups for the Sunday TV news shows:

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) — Illinois lawmakers agreed to legalize the use of medical marijuana on Friday under a plan that's being billed as the strictest in the nation among states that have authorized the drug's medicinal use, though it was unclear whether the Democratic governor plans to sign it.

DENVER (AP) — Colorado sheriffs upset with gun restrictions adopted in the aftermath of last year's mass shootings filed a federal lawsuit Friday, challenging the regulations as unconstitutional.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Secretary of State John Kerry says the U.S. wants to see Bangladesh move forward on improving labor standards after a building collapse that killed hundreds of garment workers.

BALTIMORE (AP) — Trying to reset the agenda amid scandal in Washington, President Barack Obama turned his attention Friday to the economy and said lawmakers should spend every day resolute on how to help it grow and get people back to work. "Our focus cannot drift," he said.