Privileged resolutions circumvent the committee process, and get direct votes on the House floor.
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Eleventh District U.S. Rep. Mark Meadows is among several conservative Republican House members pushing for the impeachment of IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, but it is unclear how far the effort will get.
But GOPers in the caucus said they’re exhausted of waiting on leadership to give the thumbs-up to try and impeach Koskinen, even though doing so would move the resolution to the front of the voting line and onto the House floor for a quick pass or fail decision.
“Tea Party Patriots applauds and thanks Rep. John Fleming (R-LA) and the House Freedom Caucus for filing a privileged resolution that will ensure the full House votes on whether or not to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen for his misconduct in office”, said Tea Party Patriots CEO Jenny Beth Martin in a statement.
The arguments for impeaching Koskinen stem from his lack of responsiveness to the congressional committees over the last few years as they’ve investigated the IRS’s alleged targeting of conservative groups that applied for tax exempt status.
“The American people see two standards in this country: one for “we the people” and another for the powerful and politically connected”.
IRS Commissioner John Koskinen testifies at a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing on the FY2017 budget for the Treasury Department on Capitol Hill in Washington March 8, 2016.
Now that Fleming has filed notice of his privileged resolution, the House will have two legislative days to consider the matter, at a time determined by leadership. “In this case, the IRS commissioner presided over the erasing of 24,000 of Lois Lerner’s emails after they had been subpoenaed by Congress”. Koskinen needs to be held accountable and in this case that means impeachment.
“He deliberately kept Congress and the American people in the dark, making materially false statements under oath”, Fleming said in a statement. “We can no longer wait”.
On Tuesday Freedom Caucus members took their request for a vote to Speaker Paul D. Ryan during a weekly advisory meeting in which he meets with representatives from different factions of the conference.
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If a vote happens-in light of the IRS targeting scandal-impeachment by the Republican-controlled House is very likely.
