Obama agenda seems to be weathering controversies
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....

Treasury officials told of IRS probe in June 2012
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 the heat of the presidential campaign....

US slams Russian anti-ship missiles going to Syria
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....

CBO: Obama budget cuts deficits $1.1T by 2023
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....

Hagel orders review of sex-abuse prevention
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....

Benghazi probe co-chair subpoenaed by House panel
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....

Congress gets mixed advice on regulating drones
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....

The IRS and its tea party tempest
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....

Internal wrangling marks Dems' Senate campaigns
ATLANTA (AP) -- Republicans aren't the only ones roiled by internal jostling and recruiting hiccups ahead of next year's midterm elections....

GOP hopes IRS scandal will snag health care law
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....