Hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee - Lois Lerner's Contempt of Congress

Hearing

Today, Representative Steven Horsford (NV-4) spoke during a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing in which members debated whether to hold Lois Lerner, a former IRS official, in contempt of Congress.

Below is a transcript of Rep. Horsford's remarks:

"Thank you Mr. Chairman. I oppose this resolution by Chairman Issa. And you know what, I've tried to listen everyday we've had a hearing on this, to my colleagues, on the other side. I have listened to the witnesses who came forward to offer testimony with an empathetic ear because they feel that they were affected by the targeting of the IRS.

"But my colleagues on the other side, I think you may have misplaced the blame here. The only reason we haven't been able to get the truth from Lois Lerner is because of one person, and that is our chairman.

"The chairman has refused for more than 9 months to hold any hearings with any legal experts to discuss these issues, demonstrating that he simply does not want to hear from anyone who disagrees with his position.

"The Chairman has refused to hear from any Democratic members of this committee, and even cut off the mic of the Ranking Member, and abruptly ended the hearing. The Chairman, refused to let Ms. Lerner's attorney speak as a proffer for her. The Chairman failed to grant 7 additional days to her attorney, which he requested to prepare his client. Instead the Chairman scuttled that offer from Ms. Lerner and now we are dealing with the situation where she invoked her 5th amendment.

"Like many of you, I want to hear from Lois Lerner, I want to get the facts. But because of the manner in which the investigation has been handled by our Chairman, we can't get those facts. So if my colleagues want to hold someone in contempt, maybe they should look to the person holding the gavel since it's his poor handling of this investigation that has resulted in why we can't get the truth that the people deserve.

"This resolution does nothing to get the truth for those who feel that they were targeted, or the public who deserves an Oversight Committee to act in a fair, impartial and professional manner. Unfortunately, this has not been the case since day one of this investigation and I regret it because the American people deserve better.

"The Committee has interviewed 39 witnesses, reviewed more than 450,000 pages of documents, and the IRS has spent at least $14 million so far, and there is absolutely zero evidence to support the Chairman's accusations that Ms. Lerner orchestrated any IRS targeting. And some of the questions that my colleagues and I would like her to answer can't be answered because of the manner in which the Chairman ran this investigation.

"I don't like the fact that Ms. Lerner invoked her 5th amendment rights, but we as a Committee must respect the constitutional rights of all citizens, including those of Ms. Lerner. And so I would hope that my colleagues would understand that there are those of us who want to get to the truth, we just expect the leadership of this committee, the Chairman, to allow us to do that in a fair, impartial and professional manner. And that didn't happen in this case."

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