WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama said on Thursday he would install new leadership at the Internal Revenue Service and vowed to ensure that the tax-collection agency will not single out any more groups based on their political beliefs.

As Republicans and conservative groups accused Obama’s administration of using the levers of power to persecute political enemies, Obama raced to get out in front of a scandal that threatens to derail his second-term agenda.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell called on President Barack Obama on Tuesday to make available for questioning everyone who knew about the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups, and demanded “no more stonewalling.”

With Congress preparing to hold hearings on the IRS’s holding conservative groups to extra scrutiny, McConnell said he was “calling on the president to make available, completely and without restriction, everyone who can answer the questions we have as to what was going on at the IRS, who knew about it, and how high it went.”

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama on Monday called the targeting of conservative groups by U.S. tax officials “outrageous” and said that any Internal Revenue Service employees involved would be held accountable.

Obama’s comments, during a news conference with visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron, marked the first time the president had spoken publicly about the IRS scandal.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Barack Obama sought on Monday to neutralize two crises that threatened his second term agenda, calling the apparent targeting of conservative groups by tax officials “outrageous” and an uproar over his response to American deaths in Libya a “sideshow.”

At a news conference with visiting British Prime Minister David Cameron, Obama tried to put his stamp on the two issues, which are overshadowing other policy priorities just months after he took the oath of office.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – An investigation of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service was launched on Friday after a senior IRS official publicly apologized for subjecting conservative political groups to “inappropriate” scrutiny.

In a practice that drew complaints during the 2012 election campaign, groups with the words “Tea Party” or “patriots” in their names were flagged for closer IRS review when they applied to the agency for tax-exempt status.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Tax authorities’ handling of applications for tax-exempt status from conservative political groups was under investigation, the White House said Friday after an IRS official apologized for “inappropriate” scrutiny of groups with “Tea Party” in their names.

“What we know of this is of concern and we certainly find the actions taken, as reported, to be inappropriate,” White House spokesman Jay Carney said at a briefing.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A landmark bill backed by U.S. President Barack Obama to overhaul the nation’s immigration system survived unscathed on Thursday during the first day of consideration by a divided Senate Judiciary Committee.

On bipartisan votes, the panel rejected conservatives’ attempts to thwart implementation of a centerpiece of the bill – a pathway to U.S. citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A landmark bill backed by U.S. President Barack Obama to overhaul the nation’s immigration system survived unscathed on Thursday during the first day of consideration by a divided Senate Judiciary Committee.

On bipartisan votes, the panel rejected conservatives’ attempts to thwart implementation of a centerpiece of the bill – a pathway to U.S. citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants.

WASHINGTON, May 9 (Reuters) – In the first legislative test
for the U.S. Senate’s bipartisan immigration bill, the Judiciary
Committee rejected a Republican attempt to significantly delay
the legalization process for 11 million undocumented immigrants,
a central focus of the bill.

Only the two Republican co-authors of the bill, Senators
Jeff Flake of Arizona and Lindsey Graham of South Carolina,
voted with the panel’s Democrats to defeat the Republican plan
on a 12-6 vote.

WASHINGTON, May 9 (Reuters) – A U.S. Senate committee on
Thursday launched a weeks-long effort to pass a comprehensive
immigration bill with a warning from the panel’s top Republican
that he would make the process as long and “arduous” as
possible.

“I plan to ask many questions throughout this process,” Iowa
Senator Charles Grassley warned the Democratic-controlled Senate
Judiciary Committee. “I want to know how the bill doesn’t repeat
the mistakes of the past.” Grassley, in a statement, promised an
“arduous” and “robust” debate.