Tax Leak Penalty, Foreign Influence Bills Sent to House

House Ways and Means Committee members Wednesday showed rare bipartisanship, advancing several bills on penalties for leaking tax information and the transparency of and foreign influence among tax-exempt organizations.

Democrats on the committee somewhat reluctantly joined Republicans to advance to the full House some measures on penalties for disclosing tax information and reducing the amount of foreign influence in elections. Some Democrats argued that Republicans were being hypocritical for calling for more transparency in elections while also defending decisions such as the Supreme Court’s Citizens United v. FEC freedom of speech case. Still, most Democrats threw their support behind some ...