Rep. John Fleming, R-Minden, followed through with his threat against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, introducing a resolution Tuesday (Sept. 13) to force a vote the commissioner’s impeachment.
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A group of Republican congressmen are attacking their own party leadership as “agents of our own obsolescence” if they let IRS commissioner John Koskinen off the hook.
The lawmakers offered the measure Tuesday under special procedures that put the House on track to vote Thursday on the effort.
That revulsion only intensified in 2013, when the agency conceded it had unfairly targeted tea party groups seeking tax exemptions for rigorous examinations in previous years.
Koskinen has also made himself available to lawmakers, meeting with two different groups of more moderate House Republicans, many of whom have been skeptical of the impeachment process, last week to press his case.
Raul Labrador lashed out at House GOP leaders Tuesday, saying they should hold impeachment hearings on IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, even if it means putting off the fall congressional recess.
Fleming and other members of the House Freedom Caucus have been pressing for a vote on Koskinen’s impeachment for months.
At the end of the day, members of Congress have a choice: They’re either with the IRS or they’re going to be for the American people.
The Republican reaction to the IRS bungling was a clever and sustained effort to use the hated agency as a way to mobilize an angry constituency on the right, to enhance turnout in subsequent elections, and to raise money.
“We invited Mr. Koskinen to other committees to talk about this but he refused to cooperate”, Fleming added.
“This gets down to does the House even matter”, said Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kansas, a member of the Freedom Caucus. Only once in US history has the House impeached a Cabinet-level official, the secretary of war, in 1876.
The committee determined that Koskinen specifically failed to comply with a subpoena resulting in destruction of key evidence and to locate and preserve IRS records in accordance with a congressional subpoena and an internal preservation order.
Koskinen and his Democratic allies say he did nothing wrong and provided Congress with all the information he had and knew about. The Department of Justice won’t do its job so it’s essential Congress step in. He said he has not decided whether he would support impeaching Koskinen. Rep.
“The impeachment resolution is riddled with factual errors and omissions and is based on flawed characterizations of law and events”, background papers released by Koskinen’s personal lawyers said.
The House needs only a simple majority vote to impeach a federal official, the equivalent of an indictment.
Fleming said a vote on his resolution should take place Thursday.
Impeachment is a House vote proposing articles or removal from office.
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John Fleming filed a “privileged motion” in the House to impeach Koskinen.
