Senate

The Senate will again fight over sugar subsidies while considering a farm bill this week.

A bipartisan group of senators have introduced an amendment to S. 954, which would spend $955 billion to fund agriculture programs for five years.

The Senate Finance Committee will begin to examine how the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) determines tax-exempt status.

Lawmakers started calling for investigations after reports that the IRS targeted politically conservative groups.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) introduced a bill Thursday that would prohibit the Treasury Secretary and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) from enforcing ObamaCare.

Cornyn introduced the Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care Act, S. 983, on Thursday. Lawmakers have been calling for investigations and limitations on the IRS since it admitted to applying extra scrutiny to conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

“I do not support ObamaCare, and after the events of last week, I cannot support giving the IRS any more responsibility or taxpayer dollars to implement a broken law,” Cornyn said.

The Senate passed a bill Thursday that would stop the Army Corps of Engineers from restricting fishing waters.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) introduced the Right to Fish Act, S. 982, which was passed in a unanimous consent agreement.

Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) said he thinks President Obama made a mistake Thursday by not saying directly that no one in the White House was aware of the scandal at the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

“I have tremendous respect for the office of the president,” Rubio said moments after Obama held a press conference. “[But] I think the president today potentially made a mistake in a comment he made.”

Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) urged his colleagues Thursday to support a bill he introduced, which would eliminate oil exports from Iran by expanding U.S. production.

The Iran Sanctions Implementation Act, S. 965, would require President Obama to expand U.S. domestic oil production on federal lands to offset Iran’s oil exports to the international community.

The Senate voted 97-0 to approve President Obama’s nomination of Ernest Moniz to head the Department of Energy.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Republicans on the Senate Finance Committee demanded that the Treasury Inspector General investigate the “inappropriate harassment of conservative groups” by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).

“No one should be intimidated by the government into shutting up as part of our political process,” McConnell said Thursday. “And that’s why the Republican members of the Finance Committee are sending a letter today to Treasury’s Inspector General for Tax Administration requesting investigation into this very issue. Because, without this sort of inquiry, we may never have confirmed the inappropriate harassment of conservative groups that was going on at the IRS for two years.”

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) said Republicans lied to the media when they said the Obama administration engaged in a cover-up on the Benghazi attack.

“For months my Republican colleagues have argued that the Obama administration has engaged in a cover-up surrounding an attack in Benghazi,” Reid said Thursday. “The emails prove there was simply no cover-up.”

Senate Budget Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said House Republicans are “debating what they will write on a ransom note” instead of agreeing to go to conference on the budget.

“House Republican’s are meeting to discuss what they will ask for in exchange for not tanking the economy,” Murray said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “They are debating what they will write on a ransom note.”