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The IRS raised concerns in early 2014 about the legality of certain ObamaCare payments that Republicans are now challenging in a lawsuit, according to a deposition from a former agency official. David Fisher, who was the IRS’s chief risk officer, told the House Ways and Means Committee that agency officials questioned whether the Affordable Care Act provided the authority to make certain payments to insurers without an appropriation from Congress. (Sullivan, 5/25)

The Supreme Court may be keeping a lower profile while it is short-handed, but high-stakes cases remain in Washington—at a powerful appeals court that could determine the fate of several important Obama administration initiatives. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit is preparing for cases examining signature Obama administration climate change regulations on power plants, as well as economic-crisis era rules for the nation’s largest financial firms. The court also soon could be reviewing a challenge to the implementation of President Barack Obama’s signature health-care law, a showdown between the administration and House Republicans. (Kendall, 5/25)

A Republican-led U.S. House committee has found former Gov. John Kitzhaber and a federal agency mishandled the creation of Oregon's health insurance enrollment website, with the Democratic governor's political advisers making decisions based on his re-election campaign. In a staff report released Wednesday, the Republicans on the committee said they are asking the Justice Department and state attorney general to conduct criminal investigations into the actions involving Cover Oregon. (5/25)

Ex-Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber and his staff mismanaged the creation of the state’s doomed health insurance website, including by making decisions based on his re-election campaign, according to a congressional report released Wednesday which seeks a criminal probe. ... Democrats on the committee released their own report, which laid the blame at the feet of Oracle Corporation, the state’s contractor, saying it misled officials and failed to deliver a functioning website. (5/25)