Several Tennessee and Georgia Republicans in Congress will
be digging as two House committees investigate the Internal Revenue Service's
alleged targeting of right-leaning political groups, including the Chattanooga
Tea Party.
Closest to home is U.S. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, a Jasper Republican and junior
member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. The
GOP-dominated panel was among the first to announce hearings on actions the IRS
acknowledged were "inappropriate" in challenging the tax-exempt status of tea
party groups.
"We must have a full investigation of #IRS," DesJarlais told Twitter followers
Monday. "[They] are a nonpartisan agency and cannot act as an arm of an
administration or party."
Meanwhile, U.S. Rep. Diane Black, a Nashville-area Republican, is an
up-and-coming member of the House Ways and Means Committee, the House's chief
tax-writing panel. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., announced the
committee would hold an IRS hearing Friday.
Both House committees have subpoena power, giving Volunteer State Republicans an
opportunity to publicly skewer IRS officials and hammer the White House over a
scandal that has embarrassed the administration.
Throughout the 2012 election cycle, IRS agents scrutinized conservative
organizations for additional reviews for tax-exempt status because they included
the words "tea party" or "patriot" in their exemption applications, The
Associated Press reported. In some cases, groups were asked for lists of donors,
which violates IRS policy in most cases, agency officials said.
Chattanooga Tea Party President Mark West said in a Saturday interview with the
Chattanooga Times Free Press that his group was among those targeted.
The IRS first blamed low-level office staff, saying top officials never knew
about the emphasis on conservative organizations. But on Saturday the AP
reported that high-ranking IRS officials were aware that low-level employees set
their sights on tea party groups as early as 2011.
A top member of a Ways and Means subcommittee on oversight, Black will have the
ability to question agency officials as well as have access to internal
documents.
"The IRS actions undermine our First Amendment rights and cannot be tolerated,"
Black wrote on Facebook. "That's why my colleagues and I ... have demanded that
the IRS turn over ALL communications containing words such as 'tea party' and
'patriot' -- so that we can see what correspondence was exchanged behind closed
doors and get to the bottom of this scandal!"
An influential Georgia Republican, U.S. Rep. Tom Price, and a key Peach State
Democrat, U.S. Rep. John Lewis, also hold seats on Ways and Means.
At a White House news conference Monday, President Barack Obama said he learned
about the IRS controversy from news reports. He vowed to seek accountability.
"I've got no patience for it," Obama said. "I will not tolerate it."
Ideas for dealing with the IRS already have surfaced in Congress.
U.S. Rep. Mike Turner, R-Ohio, introduced a bill Monday that would hit biased
IRS investigators with a $5,000 fine, five years in prison or both.
Right now, Turner's office said, termination is the steepest penalty for IRS
employees who "discriminate against taxpayers."
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