The Senate voted 29-12 for the measure that would direct state health regulators to change abortion clinic rules so they're similar to those for ambulatory surgery centers.

More than 500 opponents of the legislation mostly women and many wearing pink organized quickly to gather at the Legislative Building after Senate GOP leaders late Tuesday added several abortion-related provisions to an unrelated bill and won quick approval in a committee and in an initial Senate vote.

Even Republican Gov. Pat McCrory criticized the rushed legislative process in a statement Wednesday but was silent on the contents of the bill, which would still need House approval again before it goes to his desk. The General Assembly won't take up legislation again until early next week.

"Regardless of what party is in charge or what important issue is being discussed, the process must be appropriate and thorough," McCrory, who was elected last year, said. When McCrory was asked last fall during a debate which additional abortion restrictions he would agree to sign into law, he responded, "None."

More than 100 protesters in the atrium outside the full gallery above the Senate floor chanted "Shame!" after Wednesday's vote. One woman was arrested by General Assembly police after yelling "Shame on you!" before the daily session ended. Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, who presided over the nearly two-hour debate, warned the crowd several times about their debate outbursts before clearing the gallery before adjournment.

The bill, which received initial approval Tuesday night, could force abortion clinics to close and would effectively limit the rights of women to obtain an abortion in the state, according to its opponents. There are 16 licensed abortion clinics in the state but only one ambulatory surgical center that performs the procedure, according to the Department of Health and Human Services.

"If they can restrict access to abortion, they can officially take away that right and it's really distressing," said Maria Lynn of Chapel Hill, a former nurse and one of the protesters.

The updated bill also would prohibit gender-selective abortions, restrict abortion insurance coverage and require a physician to be physically present during an entire surgical abortion and when a woman takes an abortion-inducing drug such as RU-486.

Social conservatives pushed the bill, and backers say it would make abortion procedures safer for women in the light of recent problems with some clinics, bringing them in line with other medical facilities.

Sen. Warren Daniel, R-Burke, who is shepherding the bill through the Senate, referred to the abortion doctor in Philadelphia convicted recently of killing live babies at a clinic that prosecutors labeled "a house of horrors" in pushing the bill. Another senator read a newspaper story about a Charlotte clinic that was forced to close briefly this spring after state officials determined staffers were improperly administering a drug to induce abortions.

The legislation comes as Republican-led legislatures in North Carolina and several other states including Ohio and Texas work to place new restrictions on abortion, in some cases effectively limiting their availability. The North Carolina General Assembly passed abortion restrictions in 2011, but some were struck down by a federal court.

Sen. Angela Bryant, D-Nash, equated the bill with "enslavement and domination of me and my body and my uterus ... and my human and constitutional rights to health care." But Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said this bill does not attempt to overturn the 1973 U.S. Supreme Court decision legalizing abortion.

"We have an obligation to protect the health of the people the women that go to these clinics," Berger said. "Anyone who is interested in having safe abortions in North Carolina has nothing to fear from this bill."

The swift Senate action on the bill further energized abortions rights groups, many of which already have participated in weekly protests at the Legislative Building against Republican policies on health care, voting rights and other matters. The GOP took control of the legislature after the 2010 elections. Those protests, which have led to nearly 700 arrests, are expected to resume Monday with a focus on the abortion bill.

The Senate leadership knew "they couldn't pass these sweeping restrictions by playing by the rules. It is shameful that they chose to stoop to these underhanded tactics," said Melissa Reed of Planned Parenthood Health Systems, which runs clinics that provide reproductive health care services, including abortions.

Senate Rules Chairman Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, said Democrats had rammed their own legislation through the chamber for years, and more debate wouldn't have changed the outcome. But McCrory said in his statement the legislative procedure "was not right then and it is not right now."

Lalitree Darnielle of Durham, who stood outside the Senate gallery with 22-month-old son Roman in his stroller, came Wednesday because she said the public should have had more advance notice. "For them to sneak something like this into a vote without public input is disingenuous," she said.

Abortion opponents praised the bill. "We think it's a great victory for the unborn and for women," said Tami Fitzgerald with the North Carolina Values Coalition. "Abortion clinics in North Carolina have problems ... this bill fixes some of those problems."

As for whether the bill becoming law, Fitzgerald said she and allies "would expect the governor to sign the bill."

The bill may be tricky for House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, who is running for Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan's seat in 2014; his spokesman said he had no comment on the legislation Wednesday. The issue could become an issue in any primary race he has.

Hagan criticized the state Senate's move as "shameful." If legislative "leaders think they can pull a fast one on women's health right before a holiday, they are wrong," Hagan tweeted. "Women are watching."

The bill also contains provisions that already passed the House. Those would outlaw or limit abortion-related services from health insurance plans offered through exchanges created by the Affordable Care Act or by cities and counties. Conscientious refusals to participate in an abortion would be expanded beyond doctors and nurses to any medical professional.

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Associated Press writer Michael Biesecker contributed to this report.

WHAT ARE CROATIA'S TOP DESTINATIONS?

Croatia's coast features dozens of small towns with narrow, winding streets, small churches and historic monuments. The most famous is Dubrovnik, in the south Adriatic near the border with Montenegro. The medieval walled city is a favorite spot for cruisers who are sailing the Adriatic. The city was bombed during the war in 1991, and is a UNESCO world heritage site. Up north is the Istrian peninsula with its famous wine and goat cheese, while in the middle are the islands: The party island of Hvar, visited by Tom Cruise and Beyonce, among others, or Vis, which was off limits during communist era as a military base.

WHAT WILL CHANGE WITH THE EU ENTRY?

Croatia has drawn many EU citizens in the past, who are attracted by its unspoiled nature, rich vegetation, good roads and closeness to Hungary, Slovakia or the Czech Republic. Croatian officials are hoping that the EU entry will make access even easier for EU citizens, who will no longer have to deal with customs clearance. Croatia will not be using the euro currency immediately.

WILL THERE BE A DOWNSIDE?

As an EU country, Croatia will have to introduce visas for the citizens of non-EU states, such as Russia and Ukraine, which is likely to scare them away from Croatia, perhaps toward Montenegro to the south, already a favorite destination for rich Russians. Croatian officials have traveled to Russia and Ukraine for talks with tour operators there in an effort to work around the problem.

HOW TO BEST ENJOY CROATIA?

Unlike Greece or Turkey, Croatia does not have that many all-inclusive, resort-type hotels and relies mostly on smaller four-star accommodation and private rooms for rent. The Croatian coast is mostly rocky with crystal blue sea and a prevailing scent of pine trees. The best way to enjoy it is to rent a sail boat, find a secluded beach, sip wine and nibble on typical hard cheese and dry ham under the shadow of pine trees.

The medical aid group said at an international AIDS meeting here that prices of older drugs long used to treat patients have fallen sharply as India and other countries make generics. But newer drugs that are more effective against the AIDS virus are too expensive, costing up to 15 times more.

"It's good news that the price of key HIV drugs continues to fall as more generic companies compete for the market, but the newer medicines are still priced far too high," said Jennifer Cohn, medical director for Doctors Without Borders' access campaign. "We need the newer treatments for people that have exhausted all other options, but patents keep them priced beyond reach."

Patients can be treated with a combination of three or four older drugs, but those who develop resistance to them need the expensive newer medicines.

According to Doctors Without Borders, the governments of Thailand and Jamaica pay $4,760 and $6,570, respectively, a year per patient for the new drug darunavir alone. Paraguay pays $7,782 for etravirine, while Armenia pays $13,213 for raltegravir. In comparison, a cocktail of older generic drugs costs as little as $139 per person a year.

Doctors Without Borders urged the United States and 11 other countries negotiating a Trans-Pacific Partnership not to sign the free-trade pact. It warned that the pact will increase intellectual property rights across Asia and the Americas, expanding monopoly protection for medicines and threatening cheap access to drugs.

It said the World Health Organization's new guidelines, which recommend earlier treatment for adults, means that an additional 9 million people in developing countries will now be eligible for treatment. At the moment, only about 60 percent of those who need the drugs are getting them.

"Scaling up HIV treatment and sustaining people on treatment for life will depend on bringing the price of newer drugs down," said Arax Bozadijan, an HIV pharmacist for Doctors Without Borders.

The Trans-Pacific pact countries account for nearly 40 percent of global GDP and about a third of world trade, and any agreement could significantly impact prices. President Barack Obama's administration has said it hopes to wrap up talks by the end of the year.

GOREE ISLAND, Senegal (Reuters) - Almost four centuries after Africans started being shipped to North America as slaves, the first U.S. president of African ancestry on Thursday visited an infamous embarkation point for those destined for lives in chains.

In his first - and, many Africans say, long-overdue - extended tour of the continent since entering the White House, President Barack Obama focused on political and economic issues while also recalling a painful chapter in Africa's and America's past.

On the first leg of an eight-day visit he brought his family to the House of Slaves, a fort built in the late 18th century on Goree Island off the coast of Senegal as a transit point for human beings before they were shipped across the Atlantic. It is now a museum.

"It's a very powerful moment...to be able to come here and to fully appreciate the magnitude of the slave trade, to get a sense in a very intimate way of the incredible inhumanity and hardship that people faced," Obama said in brief remarks.

"More than anything what it reminds us of is that we have to remain vigilant when it comes to the defense of people's human rights."

Obama's father was from Kenya and his mother was from Kansas. First lady Michelle Obama is a descendant of slaves.

Junius Rodriguez, a historian at Eureka College near Peoria, Illinois, said Obama's visit was a reminder of the "remarkable transformation" the United States had undergone.

"We have moved from a society in which African Americans were not viewed as citizens, in which social, economic equality was not provided, to one in which we could elect an African American president," he said before the visit.

Many Africans feel a bond with Obama but have voiced disappointment that he has not engaged with the continent as much as previous presidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

During his first term, Obama's only African trip was a one-day stopover in Ghana, and many Africans have been impatient for him to make an extended tour.

"It's a real pleasure for us that the world has advanced enough for a black man to be president of the United States," said Abdoul Aziz Signane, a tailor, purchasing an Obama T-shirt at a shop in the Senegalese capital Dakar.

"It makes us very proud. That's why I came to buy a T-shirt so I can welcome him and tell him 'We love you Obama, a lot.'"

Obama toured tiny cells that once housed men, women, and children before they were taken in chains through the House of Slaves' infamous "door of no return" to waiting ships.

Eloi Coly, curator of the House of Slaves, welcomed Obama's visit. "It's ... an occasion to put the slave house on the map of the world," he said.

APOLOGY UNLIKELY

Earlier on Thursday, Obama held talks with Senegalese President Macky Sall and met with lawyers and judges at the Supreme Court, kicking off his tour with praise for Africa's democratic progress and a pledge to promote trade.

Upon their arrival on the island, the Obamas were greeted by a group of chanting men as well as women and children dressed in colorful, full-length dresses.

While George W. Bush gave a speech at Goree Island in 2003 in which he called slavery a sin, Obama did not use the occasion to make a big speech. A major address is scheduled for Sunday at the University of Cape Town.

Obama - who visited Cape Coast Castle, another slave port, during his Ghana trip in 2009 - met with civic leaders in Goree before returning to the mainland.

His visit raised the question of whether the time has come for a U.S. president to apologize for slavery.

"The magnitude of slavery is unimaginable," Harvard historian Walter Johnson said. "Can Obama heal that wound with a single speech and with the extraordinary symbolism of his visit as U.S. president, is that going to close the circle? Absolutely not."

An apology is seen as unlikely. A sovereign admission of culpability would open the door to a reparations process, something the Obama administration is unlikely to initiate.

(additional reporting by Jeff Mason and Cheikh Mane; Editing by Daniel Flynn and Andrew Roche)

DENVER (Reuters) - A Colorado judge ruled on Thursday that accused theater gunman James Holmes will tethered to the courtroom floor by a cable for security reasons during his murder trial, but denied a defense request to sequester the jury.

Holmes is charged with multiple counts of first-degree murder and attempted murder stemming from a shooting rampage last July that killed 12 moviegoers during a midnight screening of the Batman film "The Dark Knight Rises" at a suburban Denver cinema.

Fifty-eight other people in the audience were wounded by gunfire and a dozen others suffered other injuries in the ensuing pandemonium.

Prosecutors have said they intend to seek the death penalty against Holmes, 25, if he is convicted.

The California native and former University of Colorado graduate student of neuroscience has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

Holmes' public defenders have argued that allowing jurors to see their client handcuffed and shackled, as he has been in all of his court appearances so far, would unfairly prejudice them against the accused gunman.

Arapahoe County District Judge Carlos Samour Jr. agreed, but said Holmes poses a security risk and that public safety requires that he be restrained during the proceedings.

Holmes will wear a harness under his street clothes with a cable bolting him to the courtroom floor, the judge said.

The cable will be visible to jurors, Samour said, but should be indistinguishable from computer cords emanating from the defense table.

In a separate ruling, the judge denied a defense motion requesting that jurors be sequestered during the trial, which is scheduled to start in February 2014 and is expected to last for about four months.

Jury sequestration is "an extremely rare procedure," the judge said, noting that it would be expensive and impractical to keep jurors sealed off from the outside world for the duration of the trial.

Defense lawyers can renew the request later if issues arise that warrant another look, Samour said.

(Editing by Steve Gorman and Christopher Wilson)

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver said the Oklahoma City-based arts and crafts chain, along with Mardel bookstores, not only can proceed with their lawsuit seeking to overturn a portion of the Affordable Care Act, but can probably win.

The judges unanimously sent the case back to a lower court in Oklahoma, which had rejected the companies' request for an injunction to prevent full enforcement of the new law.

"Hobby Lobby and Mardel have drawn a line at providing coverage for drugs or devices they consider to induce abortions, and it is not for us to question whether the line is reasonable," the judges wrote. "The question here is not whether the reasonable observer would consider the plaintiffs complicit in an immoral act, but rather how the plaintiffs themselves measure their degree of complicity."

Hobby Lobby Stores Inc., Mardel Inc. and their owners, the Green family, argue for-profit businesses not just religious groups should be allowed to seek an exception if the law violates their religious beliefs. The owners approve of most forms of artificial birth control, but not those that prevent implantation of a fertilized egg such as an IUD or the morning-after pill.

Hobby Lobby is the largest and best-known of more than 30 businesses in several states that have challenged the contraception mandate. A number of Catholic-affiliated institutions have filed separate lawsuits, and the court suggested faith-based organizations can follow for-profit objectives in the secular world.

"A religious individual may enter the for-profit realm intending to demonstrate to the marketplace that a corporation can succeed financially while adhering to religious values. As a court, we do not see how we can distinguish this form of evangelism from any other," they wrote.

A majority of judges couldn't decide whether the Oklahoma court had sufficiently addressed two parts of Hobby Lobby's initial complaint and sent them back for further review at the local level.

Throughout a ruling that covered more than 160 pages, the judges noted Hobby Lobby faced a difficult choice violate its religious beliefs, pay $475 million in fines for failing to comply with the law (a $100 fine per day for each of its 13,000 workers), or pay $26 million to the government if it dropped its health care plan altogether.

Hobby Lobby and Mardel won expedited federal review because the stores would have faced fines starting Monday for not covering the required forms of contraception. The 10th Circuit judges said the Oklahoma court was wrong to not grant the companies an injunction in the face of serious financial penalties.

Hobby Lobby and other companies challenging the contraception mandate say the morning-after pill is tantamount to abortion because it can prevent a fertilized egg from becoming implanted in a woman's womb. The 10th Circuit heard the case before eight active judges instead of the typical three-judge panel, indicating the case's importance.

The U.S. Department of Justice argued that allowing for-profit corporations to exempt themselves from requirements that violate their religious beliefs would be in effect allowing the business to impose its religious beliefs on employees. In its ruling, the 10th Circuit cited a 2010 U.S. Supreme Court conclusion that for-profit corporations have rights to political expression.

"We see no reason the Supreme Court would recognize constitutional protection for a corporation's political expression but not its religious expression," the judges wrote.

One judge went even further in a concurring opinion.

"No one suggests that organizations, in contrast to their members, have souls," Judge Harris Hartz wrote. "But it does not follow that people must sacrifice their souls to engage in group activities through an organization."

Hobby Lobby calls itself a "biblically founded business" and is closed on Sundays. Founded in 1972, the company now operates more than 500 stores in 41 states and employs more than 13,000 full-time employees who are eligible for health insurance.

Emily Hardman, spokeswoman for the Washington-based Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, which represents Hobby Lobby, called the ruling a "resounding victory for religious freedom."

But Americans United for Separation of Church and State said the judges were wrong.

"This isn't religious freedom; it's the worst kind of religious oppression," executive director Barry Lynn said in a statement.

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Kristen Wyatt is on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/APkristenwyatt

The average rate on the 30-year fixed loan soared this week to 4.46 percent, according to a report Thursday from mortgage buyer Freddie Mac. That's the highest average in two years and a full point more than a month ago.

The surge in mortgage rates follows the Federal Reserve's signal that it could slow its bond purchases later this year. A pullback by the Fed would likely send long-term interest rates even higher.

In the short run, the spike in mortgage rates might be causing more people to consider buying a home soon. Rates are still low by historical standards, and would-be buyers would want to lock them in before they rise further.

But eventually, more expensive home loans could price some people out and slow the housing market's momentum, which has helped drive the U.S. economy over the past year.

"People are getting off the fence a little bit more or choosing to buy now instead of choosing to buy three months from now," said Anthony Geraci, a Cleveland real estate broker-owner who says he's seeing more sales activity lately in his market.

Mortgage rates are rising because they tend to track the yield on the 10-year Treasury note, a benchmark for most long-term interest rates. The 10-year yield began rising from near-record lows in May after speculation grew that the Fed might be closer to reducing its bond purchases.

In early May, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage was 3.35 percent, just above the record low of 3.31 percent.

But rates began to surge and stocks plunged after Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke made more explicit comments last week about the Fed's plans. He said the Fed would likely scale back its bond buying later this year and end it next year if the economy continued to strengthen.

The rate on 30-year loan soared from 3.93 percent last week to 4.46 percent this week the biggest one-week jump in 26 years.

The effect on buyers' wallets in just the past two months is striking.

A buyer who locked in a 3.35 percent rate in early May on a $200,000 mortgage would pay $881 a month, according to Bankrate.com. The same mortgage at a 4.46 percent rate would run $1,008 a month.

The difference: $127 more a month, or $45,720 over the lifetime of the loan. Those figures don't include taxes, insurance or initial down payments.

Jed Kolko, chief economist at Trulia, a real estate data analysis firm, thinks many would-be buyers will start to take note.

"Some buyers will reconsider jumping into the market; others will speed up their (home) purchases before rates go higher," Kolko said.

The rate hike comes at a critical time. Low mortgage rates have helped fuel a housing recovery that has kept the economy growing modestly despite higher taxes and steep federal spending cuts.

In May, completed sales of previously occupied homes surpassed the 5 million mark for the first time in 3 years. And those sales could rise further in June because the number of people who signed contracts to buy homes rose last month to the highest level since December 2006. There's generally a one- to two-month lag between a signed contract and a completed sale.

Greater demand, along with a tight supply of homes for sale, has driven up home prices. It's also led to more home construction, which has created more jobs and contributed to economic growth.

Lower rates have also inspired a refinancing boom over the past two years. Many homeowners have locked in rates below 4 percent. That has lowered their monthly payments, leaving them with more cash to spend elsewhere and fuel more economic growth.

The average rate on a 15-year fixed mortgage, a popular refinancing instrument, soared this week to 3.50 percent its highest point since August 2011 from 3.04 percent last week.

A report this week suggested that the economy might not be as strong as some had thought. The government cut its growth estimate for the January-March quarter to an annual rate of just 1.8 percent much lower than the 2.4 percent rate it estimated a month ago.

A key reason for the downgrade was that consumers spent less than previously thought. Less spending has led some economists to predict that growth will stay weak through the summer and fall short of the Fed's more optimistic forecast of 2.3 percent to 2.6 percent growth for all of 2013.

The downgrade for economic growth has cast some doubt on the likelihood that the Fed will reduce its stimulus later this year. Several Fed voting members have stressed in recent days that Bernanke's comments made clear that any pullback in bond purchases would hinge on the economy's performance, not a calendar date.

Those reassurances and solid, if not spectacular, economic data have helped boost stocks in recent days and reverse a jump in long-term interest rates. The yield on the 10-year Treasury note fell Thursday to 2.47 percent, down from its two-year high of 2.66 percent on Monday.

Geraci says he doesn't think higher mortgage rates will hurt a housing market in which there aren't nearly enough available homes in many areas.

"So buyers that find a nice home, no matter what the rates are, are going to move on it," Geraci said. "If there's enough supply, people might sit and wait a little bit and see if the rates come down."

Rising rates motivated Alex Backus to act two weeks ago and sign a contract on a $365,000 three-bedroom house in the Seattle suburb of Edmonds, Wash.

Backus, 30, had searched listings for two months before signing the contract. He locked in a 30-year loan at a fixed rate of 4.125 percent.

"Seeing that interest rates were starting to come back up, it seemed like now was the time to really start to get serious about buying a home," said Backus, an aerospace engineer.

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Veiga reported from Los Angeles.

The Spanish Football Federation, which had previously declined to give specifics, issued a statement on Tuesday responding to reports in the Brazilian media that the theft was connected to a team party following a 2-1 victory over Uruguay in Recife nine days ago.

The federation "categorically denies" the reports and called the allegations damaging to "the honor of the players and their family and friends."

Brazilian media, citing employees of the hotel and security officials, reported that women from outside the Spanish traveling party and alcohol were involved in the party at the team hotel.

The Spanish federation said that "Six national team players were the subject of a robbery at the team's hotel in Recife during the stay for the game between Spain and Uruguay in the Confederations Cup. This was reported in a timely manner to the Brazilian police.

"This statement is not an attack against the organizing committee, nor against FIFA, nor the country of Brazil, which has welcomed the Spanish team. An event like this could take place anywhere in the world, including Spain.

"Since then, a series of verbal attacks on our players has been published, which the RFEF totally rejects and profoundly condemns. They damage the honor of the players and their family and friends."

The statement ended by saying the aim of the reports was to "cause harm to the good name of the players on the team, who have demonstrated good conduct, professionalism and exemplary behavior for many years."

Defender Gerard Pique, one the players reported by Brazilian media to have been involved, called the reports "a total lie."

Spain faces Italy on Thursday in the Confederations Cup semifinals, looking to reach the final on Sunday and win the only major tournament title it lacks. Spain won the 2010 World Cup and the last two European championships.

Security has long been a problem in Brazil, where muggings, carjackings and armed robberies are common. It's a concern leading up to the 2014 World Cup and the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

Last Wednesday, the wife of Brazil goalkeeper Julio Cesar said she was robbed at gunpoint in Fortaleza, where Brazil played Mexico that day. In the capital Brasilia, the hotel room of at least one journalist was robbed before the opening match of the Confederations Cup.

Nina E. Olson, who runs the independent office within the IRS, said in her annual report to Congress that culture continues today, despite the scandal that has rocked the tax agency for more than a month.

Olson recommended that Congress authorize her to make "apology payments" of up to $1,000 to groups in cases in which "the IRS has caused excessive expense or undue burden to the taxpayer, and the taxpayer has experienced a significant hardship."

She said her office first approached the IRS about a backlog of applications for tax-exempt status in 2007. Olson has the authority to intervene in cases in which IRS actions are causing a "significant hardship" for taxpayers.

But the report said the agency's Exempt Organizations division resisted Olson's efforts, contending that she had no authority to intervene in such cases.

"The attitude that (Exempt Organizations) does not have to be responsive to (the taxpayer advocate) permeated the organization and persists to this day, with one EO employee recently complaining about being 'so tired of you calling,'" the report said.

The IRS has been under siege since the agency revealed last month that agents had improperly targeted tea party and other conservative groups for additional, often burdensome scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status during the 2010 and 2012 elections.

This week, the IRS released documents showing that progressive and liberal groups may have been improperly singled out as well.

The taxpayer advocate does not have the authority to investigate the IRS, so the new report doesn't shed any light on who ordered agents to target the groups.

The report does, however, provide more details about an IRS division that shunned outside scrutiny even as agents engaged in conduct that has been condemned by the president, members of Congress and the public.

The IRS' acting commissioner, Danny Werfel, promised to work with Olson's office "to improve education inside and outside the IRS about taxpayer rights."

Werfel, who took over the agency last month, added, "We also agree on other areas, including the need to do a better job of reducing the backlog of (tax-exempt) applications."

The IRS was screening the groups' applications because agents were trying to determine their level of political activity. IRS regulations say tax-exempt social welfare organizations may engage in some political activity but the activity may not be their primary mission.

The additional scrutiny caused hundreds of applications for tax-exempt status to languish for more than a year, with some waiting more than three years for a decision.

The report said IRS agents are supposed to report taxpayer inquiries to the taxpayer advocate's office if a case has been delayed more than 30 days beyond the normal processing time. Despite the directive, the Exempt Organizations division did not refer any cases to the taxpayer advocate, even though nearly 300 applications were delayed much longer than 30 days, the report said.

From 2010 to 2013, the taxpayer advocate's office said it received 19 referrals about cases that may have involved groups that were targeted for additional scrutiny, the report said. Most of the referrals came from congressional offices.

The office didn't recognize a pattern because of the volume of cases it handles. During the same period, the taxpayer advocate's office received a total of 915,000 referrals, according to the report.

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Follow Stephen Ohlemacher on Twitter: http://twitter.com/stephenatap