Skip to main content

Political storm over IRS targeting scandal shifts to Congress

A U.S. House of Representatives panel on Friday opens the first in a series of investigative hearings in Congress on the Internal Revenue Service's targeting of conservative groups for extra tax scrutiny, as the political storm over the scandal shifts to Capitol Hill.

Lawmakers from both parties are expected to grill the outgoing acting head of the agency, Steven Miller, and the Treasury Department inspector general for tax administration, J. Russell George, about the growing scandal that threatens to eclipse President Barack Obama's second-term agenda.

Miller was forced to resign on Wednesday, and Obama has since appeared in public twice to condemn the IRS's actions and promise full cooperation with three congressional investigations and a Justice Department probe.

Members of the House Ways and Means Committee are expected to press Miller at the hearing about why he did not disclose the practice of targeting conservative groups after learning about it in 2012, even when he was questioned about it by members of Congress.

Republicans, who have demanded more answers and angrily accused the administration of using government powers to target political foes, also are likely to question whether other groups or donors were singled out because of their political views, and whether the White House knew of the practice.

The hearing is scheduled to start at 9 a.m. EDT (1300 GMT).

"There are still far too many unanswered questions and until we know what truly happened, we cannot fully fix what is wrong," said Committee Chairman Dave Camp, a Republican from Michigan.

"The IRS has demonstrated a culture of cover up and has failed time and time again to be completely open and honest with the American people," Camp said.

George, who investigated the complaints against the IRS, issued a public report earlier this week that blamed ineffective management and bureaucratic confusion at the IRS for the agency's inappropriate targeting of conservative political groups for extra scrutiny when considering applications for tax-exempt status.

But George also could face vigorous questioning from Republicans about why he did not issue warnings about the practice earlier.

The political storm over the scandal has put Obama on the defensive at a time when he is negotiating with Republicans on a budget deal and trying to push a comprehensive immigration reform bill through Congress.

Two other committees, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee and the Senate Finance Committee, also will hold IRS hearings next week.

"COMMON SENSE"

Representative Devin Nunes of California, a Republican member of the Ways and Means panel, said Friday's hearing will kick off a months-long investigative process. Nunes said he was suspicious of the tax agency's motives in targeting groups with names that included "Tea Party" or "Patriot."

"Common sense tells me it probably just wasn't two low-level employees in Cincinnati sitting around strategizing about how to go after the Tea Party," Nunes told reporters on Thursday.

Representative Sander Levin of Michigan, the top Democrat on the panel, said he was concerned that Republicans could turn the probe into a partisan witchhunt.

"There is a tendency to politicize. That would be a terrible mistake," Levin told reporters. "There are people who conjecture, who are trying to make connections. If there is no basis for it, that is also a mistake."

Camp and Levin sent the IRS a letter on Tuesday outlining the information they were seeking in the probe, including all documents relating to the targeting and any information on who knew about the practice and when they became aware of it.

The letter also asked for any other organizations singled out for their political views and the search terms used to find them, as well as all documents related to possible special reviews of groups whose missions involved Israel and all communication with the White House on the process.

Given the three congressional investigations and the Justice probe, Obama said, there was no need for a special prosecutor to look into the allegations.

"Between those investigations I think we're going to be able to figure out exactly what happened, who was involved, what went wrong, and we're going to be able to implement steps to fix it," Obama said at a Rose Garden news conference on Thursday.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Jiah Khan ended life over troubled love affair with Suraj Pancholi, failing career: Police

Young actress Jiah Khan, also known as Nafisa Khan, allegedly committed suicide by hanging herself, with the police claiming she was heartbroken after a failed relationship with Suraj Pancholi, the son of actor couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab, which possibly drove her to take the step at her home last night. The body of Jiah, 25, was found hanging at her 'Sagar Sangeet' residence in Juhu at around 11 PM where she lived with mother and sister who were not present when she ended her life. Preliminary investigation has revealed that she was in a relationship with Suraj, son of actor couple Aditya Pancholi and Zarina Wahab for nearly a year. Jiah was said to be under depression after coming to know of Suraj's new love interest, who supplied jewellery to the Pancholis. Jiah Khan's life in pics Investigators said the actress, who made her dream debut opposite Amitabh Bachchan in Ram Gopal Varma's 2007 film 'Nishabd', prima facie took her life due to her...

MS Dhoni receives ICC Shield for India's ODI glory

India captain Mahendra Singh Dhoni on Monday received the prestigious ICC ODI Championship Shield and a cheque of $175,000 for leading his side to the top of the ICC ODI Championship table on the annual April 1 cut-off date. This is the first time since the current ranking system was introduced in 2002 that India finished as the No. 1 ranked one-day international (ODI) side. David Morgan, former president of the International Cricket Council (ICC), presented the Shield to Dhoni, who also collected the cheque, after India's training session at the Cardiff Wales Stadium. "I am very proud of this huge achievement, as being No. 1 is a reward for all of us but hopefully it is just the beginning. Being No. 1 in the world brings with it a certain respect for the game itself and for the way in which we play the game and conduct ourselves on the field," said Dhoni. "You have to be consistent to be ranked No. 1 and I think we have reached that level of consisten...

With Love from Tehran – Mandana Karimi

The part Turkish, part Iranian, part Indian Mandana Karimi will be soon be seen in the Vikram Bhatt-directed Bhaag Johnny. The tall, brown-eyed Karimi talks to us about poetry, watches and food. When we heard you were from Iran, we instantly thought of Ferdowsi. We think his Shahnameh was as excellent piece of work as ever to come out of Iran. Are you into poetry as well? I love Ferdowsi, but there are others that you should read. People like Ahmad Shamlou and Sadi. And Hafiz, too. Hafiz… he was good, eh? Can you recite a couplet or two from one of his poems? You have to read them in Farsi, but wait, let me try to translate a couple of lines from one of his poems. This is from Drunk on the Wine of the Beloved, a collection of some 100 poems by Hafiz: Come and set my boat free on sail in the winerivers! Come and burn the guru and the youth inheavenly fires! Oh wine-bearer! In wine, let my boat sail away As, “in water set free your goodness”, they say. In mistake, I turned away from...