A U.S. Senate panel that conducted a two-year investigation into a scandal over the targeting of conservative political groups by the Internal Revenue Service issued a report on Wednesday with several bipartisan recommendations. Richard Burr (R-NC) released a statement on Thursday to express his disappointment with the probe’s results.
Advertisement
Issa, who had earlier investigated the the issue in the House of Representatives, said the IRS was guilty of “shameful political targeting” under the direction of Lois Lerner, a former IRS official who headed the tax-exempt unit.
The investigation did not find that the IRS broke any laws, but Republicans and Democrats came to slightly different conclusions on whether the agency’s action on nonprofits was politically motivated. “I’m thankful the Finance Committee was able to compile the facts so that we can work on reforms that will prevent Americans from being targeted for their political beliefs”.
“The results of this in-depth, bipartisan investigation showcase pure bureaucratic mismanagement without any evidence of political interference”, Wyden said. What’s more, when Lois Lerner harassed conservatives, she was actually following the lead of Democrats senators like Carl Levin and Chuck Schumer who made it clear they wanted the IRS to do that very thing.
– The IRS should keep better track of tax-exempt applications to ensure they smoothly move through the system. SuperPACs, which are also used by both sides, must disclose their donors, while 501(c)(4) groups have no disclosure requirement. The report says Lerner waited almost two years before informing her supervisors about long delays in the processing of applications. The employees, however, received little or no discipline.
“· “[S]oon after the Obama Administration began a concerted effort to constrain spending on political speech, the IRS and other executive agencies began scrutinizing conservative organizations that had, or sought, tax-exempt status”.
“· “[O]ur investigation revealed an environment within the IRS where the political bias of individual employees like Lois Lerner can, and sometimes does, influence decisions”.
TIGTA provided their findings to the Committee on June 30, 2015.
Advertisement
Hatch noted in the report that it was quite unusual for Lerner to consider an audit based on a single news article, and said that out of the 1.5 million IRS records reviewed, Lerner never referred a progressive group for an audit based on similar conditions, according to The Daily Caller.
