House Oversight Committee Holds IRS Political Targeting Hearing

Statement

Today the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee got their chance to question key IRS players on the political targeting of nonprofit applications. Neal Wolin, Deputy Secretary at the Department of Treasury; J. Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration; Douglas Shulman, Former Commissioner of the IRS; and Lois Lerner, IRS Director of Tax Exempt Organizations, testified before the Committee on the practice of political targeting. Lerner left the hearing promptly after pleading the Fifth Amendment against self-incrimination.

Congressman Lummis issued the following statement after the hearing:

"Trust has been destroyed. When things like Watergate were going on you had the Battle of Titans - the politically powerful going after the politically powerful. But in this matter you have the politically empowered going after the people who hired them and people who don't have the weapons of the federal government to turn to. I have no idea how we can restore the trust that has been destroyed.

"This is Goliath against David. Its moms and dads at kitchen tables taking kids to soccer games who want to have an organization with the name Tea Party. It's people who believe they are patriots. And their own government is telling them, "we will not allow you to exercise your patriotism in this way because we don't like your brand of patriotism.'

"This is far worse than anything we've seen in Watergate or that the government has done to the government. This is the government turned against the very people who hired them, who trusted them and who have destroyed that trust."

Watch Congressman Lummis question key IRS officials: http://youtu.be/tjeqJbkSDrc

Watch IRS Director of Tax Exempt Lois Lerner take her fifth amendment: http://youtu.be/tjeqJbkSDrc

Source