Orrin Hatch

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• Biden: Gun curbs can't end killings but can help

  WASHINGTON-- Curbing guns can't ensure an end to mass slayings like December's killings of 20 first-graders in Newtown, Conn., but it will reduce firearm deaths, Vice President Joe Biden said Thursday.

• ANALYSIS-Medicare premium support idea rising from ashes?

  *Democrats seen backing away from Medicare enrollment age hike. WASHINGTON, Jan 31- Just months after President Barack Obama's re-election ended Republican hopes of controlling U.S. healthcare policy, one of the most controversial Republican proposals for Medicare is showing signs of rising from the political ashes.

• In parallel immigration push, bill focuses on high-skilled workers

  WASHINGTON, Jan 29- U.S. senators introduced a new proposal on Tuesday to make life easier for highly skilled immigrants and their employers to nourish America's high-technology industries as Congress begins the long process of tackling immigration reform.

• UPDATE 2-Obama nominates Jack Lew to succeed Geithner at Treasury

  *Lew, 57, appears likely to win Senate confirmation. Lew will succeed Timothy Geithner and take the lead on difficult negotiations with Congress on how to cut the nation's massive debt and rein in spending- a central challenge for Obama's second term. He appears likely to win Senate confirmation.

• U.S. Congress tax panels welcome fresh faces

  WASHINGTON, Jan 3- The rosters of the powerful, tax-writing panels of the U.S. Congress were nearly filled out on Thursday, with three prominent Republicans named to the Senate Finance Committee.

• FACTBOX-Key players in scramble to avoid U.S. 'fiscal cliff'

  WASHINGTON, Dec 27- The outcome of the "fiscal cliff" debate will be decided in four days, with just a handful of powerful leaders in Washington calling the shots, for better or for worse. *Barack Obama, Democratic president: Reelected last month, the former Democratic U.S. senator from Illinois campaigned on the need to raise taxes on high-income Americans.

• Muni tax break under threat from bipartisan scrutiny in congress

  WASHINGTON, Dec 14- The tax break that U.S. states, cities and counties get on the bonds they issue is in growing jeopardy now that Republicans, in addition to Democrats, are considering limits on the exemption. The "fiscal cliff" refers to sharp tax increases and spending cuts that take effect in 18 days unless Congress intervenes soon.

• Democrats laud report challenging Republican tax ideas

  WASHINGTON, Dec 13- Democratic lawmakers on Thursday lauded an updated congressional report that suggested there is no conclusive link between higher taxes on the affluent and economic growth, challenging a key tenet of Republican ideology amid the fiscal cliff debate.

• Sen. Hatch on Chances of Reaching Debt Deal 

  

  Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) weighs in on whether Republicans will budge on raising taxes on the top two percent of taxpayers, and the odds of reaching a deal by the end of the year.

• UPDATE 2-US Senate OKs Russia trade and rights bill, angering Moscow

  *Lifts Cold War-era trade restriction on Russia. WASHINGTON, Dec 6- The U.S. Senate on Thursday approved legislation to punish Russian human rights violators as part of a broader bill to expand U.S. trade with Washington's former Cold War enemy.

• UPDATE 1-US Senate approves Russia trade, rights bill

  *Lifts Cold War-era trade restrictions on Russia. "The Senate's historic bipartisan vote today moves us closer to having our trade with Russia covered by the rules of the World Trade Organization," the Obama administration's trade representative Ron Kirk said in a statement.

• US Senate set to approve Russia trade, rights bill

  *Russia would get normal trade relations with U.S. The House voted 365-43 last month to approve the bill, which grants "permanent normal trade relations" to Russia by lifting a Cold War-era restriction on trade.

• UPDATE 1-Republicans see some leverage in US 'fiscal cliff' talks

  Republicans may have some leverage in their fiscal cliffhanger with President Barack Obama: the threat of forcing a disproportionate number of Democrats to pay the so-called alternative minimum tax.

• Republicans see some leverage in US 'fiscal cliff' talks

  Only some 4 million taxpayers pay the AMT because Congress routinely "patches" the AMT for inflation to spare middle-income taxpayers. Without a patch for 2012, up to 33 million taxpayers will have to pay an AMT liability, according to the Internal Revenue Service.

• FACTBOX-Corporate tax agenda draws fire from top U.S. Republican

  Nov 30- In a sign lawmakers may be getting down to details on fixing the tax code, a top U.S. Senate Republican on Friday criticized a Democratic proposal to repeal an accounting technique that lets manufacturers reduce their income taxes.

• FACTBOX-Key players in U.S. 'fiscal cliff' drama

  WASHINGTON, Nov 7- President Barack Obama's projected re-election brings into focus the most pressing issue of the next few months: preventing a ``fiscal cliff'' of $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts that will take place barring a deal with Congress. *Thomas Barthold, chief of staff, Joint Committee on Taxation: Behind-the-scenes research chief.

• FACTBOX-20 key players in U.S. 'fiscal cliff' drama

  WASHINGTON, Nov 2- After the Nov. 6 elections, urgent tax and spending issues must be addressed, forcing Washington's power players to make some tough decisions before the end of the year. Regardless of who wins the Nov. 6 presidential election, Obama will be in the White House during the final months of 2012 when the ``fiscal cliff'' must be dealt with.

• US agency withdraws tax report challenging Republican ideas

  WASHINGTON, Nov 1- A U.S. government agency has withdrawn a report that challenged Republican ideas about taxes and economic growth- an action that drew fire from Democrats who accused it on Thursday of bowing to political pressure.

• Ending some US tax breaks would allow 4-pct cut in rates - report

  Joint Committee on Taxation Chief of Staff Thomas Barthold wrote in the letter to lawmakers that he conducted an "experiment" after meeting with members of the Senate Finance Committee about tax reform in September.

• UPDATE 1-Reagan tax reform "obsolete" in fiscal cliff talks-Schumer

  WASHINGTON, Oct 9- The top Senate Democrat on Tuesday called for scrapping a venerated model of revamping the U.S. tax code in a move that hardened his party's negotiating position in already entrenched talks to avoid the so-called ``fiscal cliff''.