Democratic proponents of the legislation argued that government involvement in drug pricing negotiations would result in lower health care costs for the elderly and taxpayers. Republicans countered that the Medicare program is already achieving lower-than-expected drug costs for seniors through the use of private insurance companies and government intervention would result in a disruptive "takeover" of the price negotiation process.

The co-owner of a payroll company pleaded guilty Wednesday to a scheme to defraud business clients of more than $4 million by diverting employee taxes to his personal use, federal officials said.

Stephen E. Taylor, 34, of Canton pleaded guilty to wire fraud and could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison and fined $250,000 at sentencing June 27 in U.S. District Court, officials said.

U.S. Attorney David Nahmias said Taylor was co-owner of 20/20 Payroll Solutions, with offices in Georgia, Texas and Alabama.

"This defendant took advantage of more than 100 innocent business owners, including many mom-and-pop operations," Nahmias said. "He took the funds clients entrusted him with to pay their employees' taxes and used the funds instead for his own personal benefit.

'When his scheme spiraled out of control, he began using the funds of one client to pay for the taxes owed by other clients. In less than two years, he cheated his clients out of more than $4 million dollars," the prosecutor said

The Internal Revenue Service today gave TurboTax customers who were unable to file electronically Tuesday an extension until midnight Thursday.

Intuit, the company that makes the popular tax software, reported that its electronic-filing back-end system was overloaded on Tuesday, making it impossible for an unknown number of users of all the company's tax software products to meet the government's April 17 deadline for filing 2006 returns.

"Intuit product users who were unable to file their returns through the company's servers Tuesday should e-file as soon as possible," the IRS said in a news release posted on its Web site this afternoon. "The IRS will not apply late filing penalties to taxpayers who were affected by this problem."

It's the second extension the IRS has announced today. Earlier, the agency said taxpayers affected by the major storm that hit the northeast on Monday would have until April 26 to file. The agency had initially given storm victims until the 19th, but decided to grant an additional week because storm-related power outages and public transportation problems were making it impossible for some taxpayers and accountants to make the new deadline.

Six more former workers arrested during a raid of the Swift & Co. meatpacking plant in Cactus pleaded guilty to federal charges this week and could go to prison.

The six entered pleas in federal court in Amarillo on Tuesday, the U.S. Attorney's Office said in a news release issued Wednesday.

Charges against them stem from a December immigration raid at the Swift plant in the Panhandle conducted as part of an investigation into the use of Social Security numbers by illegal immigrants to gain employment.

Four of the defendants -- Jesus Gutierrez-Ramos, Domingo Velasquez-Gutierrez, Manuel Castro-Pablo and Cristino Pablo-Alonzo -- each pleaded guilty to one count of fraud in connection with an immigration document. They face a possible maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine.

Two others pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges of unlawful entry by an illegal immigrant. They face a maximum penalty of six months in prison and a $5,000 fine.

Raids at Swift & Co. plants in six states led to the arrests of more than 1,200 immigrant workers. All 53 people charged in the Northern District of Texas have pleaded guilty. Sentencing has not yet been set.

No charges were filed against Swift, which bills itself as the world's second-largest beef and pork processor.

EOCCs are hydraulic devices that protect sensitive cargos by mitigating the forces experienced by railcars during transit and coupling. The Department's Antitrust Division filed a civil lawsuit today in U.S. District Court in Washington, D.C., alleging that the transaction harmed competition. At the same time, the Department filed a proposed consent decree that, if approved by the court, would resolve the Department's competitive concerns.

Amsted's acquisition of FMI was not subject to the reporting and waiting period requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976 since the value of the transaction did not meet HSR reporting requirements. However, the Department opened an investigation after customers complained that the consummated transaction removed a significant constraint on pricing, resulting in an immediate price increase for EOCCs. According to the Department, the merging companies were the only two manufacturers of new EOCC units and two of only three suppliers of reconditioned EOCC units used in the railway industry. The acquisition left Amsted as the sole competitor in the market for new EOCCs and the dominant supplier in the reconditioned EOCC market.

"Amsted's acquisition of FMI substantially reduced competition resulting in higher prices," said Gerald F. Masoudi, Deputy Assistant Attorney General in the Department's Antitrust Division. "This divestiture will create an opportunity for a new entrant to enter the markets for EOCCs and restore competition to these markets."

The Department said that the proposed consent decree requires Amsted to divest all of the intangible and other manufacturing assets needed to produce new and reconditioned EOCCs that it acquired from FMI. Because the FMI business was discontinued as a result of the transaction and Amsted has only one facility that manufactures EOCCs, the decree requires Amsted to grant a perpetual license to its own intellectual property to account for gaps in the FMI assets. The divestiture and license grant will be conveyed to an approved buyer, to facilitate that company's entry into the markets for new and reconditioned EOCCs. The Department said that the divestitures will enable that company to become a viable EOCC supplier and compete with Amsted.

In addition, under the proposed consent decree Amsted will be prohibited from acquiring any assets of or any interest in the development, production, or sale of EOCCs in the U.S. if the value of such acquisition exceeds $1 million without first notifying the U.S. through procedures set out in the decree, unless the transaction is otherwise subject to the reporting and waiting period requirements of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act. This notification requirement runs for a period of 10 years.

Amsted is a diversified manufacturer of industrial components serving primarily the railroad, vehicular, and construction markets. Its products include a range of railroad car parts, including couplers, side frames, bolsters, draft gears and hydraulic cushioning devices. In 2005, Amsted reported sales of $2.5 billion. Amsted's EOCC sales in the U.S. are made through ASF-Keystone Inc., a subsidiary of Amsted Industries, headquartered in Granite City, Ill.

As required by the Tunney Act, the proposed consent decree, along with the Department's competitive impact statement, will be published in the Federal Register. Any person may submit written comments concerning the proposed decree during a 60-day comment period to Maribeth Petrizzi, Chief, Litigation II Section, Antitrust Division, U.S. Department of Justice, 1401 H Street, N.W., Suite 3000, Washington, D.C. 20530. At the conclusion of the 60-day comment period, the Court may enter the final judgment upon a finding that it serves the public interest.

Last week, the Washington State House of Representatives approved a domestic partnership bill (SB 5336) that grants same-sex couples hospital visitation rights, inheritance rights when there is no will, and the power to authorize medical procedures, such as organ donation and autopsies. Earlier this month, the New Hampshire House of Representatives passed a bill to allow civil unions for gay and lesbian couples.