Laura Litvan

A series of tentative compromises were worked out on spending caps, the defense budget and IRS funding.

More than anything else, that may prove a decisive element in ending the partisan standoff.

Texas billionaire Harlan Crow declined to detail the extent and tax treatment of luxury gifts he provided to Clarence Thomas.

The vote was 50-46 to end a rule that allows retirement plans to weigh climate change and other environmental, social and governance issues in their investment decisions.

Senate Democrats plan their own political counter-programming to House Republicans' threats of wide-ranging probes, taking on issues like corporate tax avoidance and union-busting.

Chances are dimming that Congress will take up a multibillion-dollar package to renew a cluster of business tax breaks and provide a more generous child tax credit before lawmakers leave Washington for the year.

On taxes, the fate of research and development and private equity tax breaks remain mired in a dispute over expanding the child tax credit.

Businesses are lobbying hard for Congress to pass a package of tax breaks worth about $100 billion before the end of the year.

A minimum corporate tax rate wouldn’t spark higher consumer prices, according to the senator.

He questioned a 3.8% tax on pass-through businesses, under discussion as an offset for Medicare drug provisions.