“If you've got the IRS operating in anything less than a neutral and nonpartisan way, then that is outrageous."

Sugar growers are heading into this month’s congressional farm bill debate confident that they will be able to maintain the United States' sugar program despite efforts to eliminate it.

Jack Roney of the American Sugar Alliance (ASA) said the group is not sure what amendments on sugar will be offered to the House and Senate farm bills, but predicted the group would be able to defeat them.

“I think the arguments we have will have equal effectiveness in the committees and on the floor,” he said. 

The Senate Finance Committee will investigate the IRS's targeting of conservative groups, the panel's chairman said Monday.

British Prime Minister David Cameron wants a global standard under which petroleum and mining companies will report their payments to governments, calling it a way to curb corruption in resource-rich nations.

Cameron, who is meeting with President Obama at the White House on Monday, called for the Group of Eight leading industrial nations to work on the effort at its June gathering in Ireland.

The prime minister, in a broader Wall Street Journal column backing free trade, said greater “transparency” must accompany more open global markets.

“[W]e must lift the veil of secrecy that too often lets corrupt corporations and officials in some countries run rings around the law. The G8 must move toward a global common standard for resource-extracting companies to report all payments to governments, and in turn for governments to report those revenues,” Cameron writes.

Rep. Michael Turner's bill would jail and fine IRS workers who discriminate against political speech.

The Florida senator said the IRS could not keep the "American people’s confidence under the current leadership."

Greek officials are cracking down on tax evasion, but with little revenue to show for it.
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Both chambers will dig into the farm bill this week as lawmakers look to strike a deal.

The Senate Agriculture Committee is set to mark up its version of the bill on Tuesday, while its House counterpart will follow suit on Wednesday. 

The biggest difference between the two bills is how they handle food stamps. The House would cut $23 billion from food stamp programs, while the Senate bill would trim just $4 billion.

Leaders in the House and Senate have both committed to floor action in the coming weeks. Farmers are currently operating under an extension of the 2008 farm bill.

The new economic atmosphere might help advance some of Obama’s agenda, but could dim hopes of fiscal reform.