E-Newsletter: A New Turn in the IRS Scandal

Statement

For the past year, the IRS scandal has shocked and disturbed the nation, with new revelations of misconduct coming out on a seemingly weekly basis. This past week, however, produced one of the most appalling revelations, as the IRS' record of abuse reached a new low.

First a quick recap: In the run-up to the 2012 election, the IRS was orchestrating a systematic campaign to target and punish Tea Party and conservative organizations. While President Obama called it a "phony scandal," in fact, it was an outrageous abuse of government power that should never be tolerated.

What the IRS did is a matter of public record. What remains unclear -- and what the committee is still investigating -- is how far up did the corruption go? Was it just some rogue agents acting on their own? Or was there a plan in place from above, maybe even from the top?

The Ways and Means Committee and the Oversight Committee have been working tirelessly for answers, but the administration keeps stonewalling and making excuses. Actually, the administration's behavior is worse than that; all of their actions smack of a cover-up.

This week, the IRS Commissioner told the Oversight Committee that over two years of emails from Lois Lerner -- the IRS official who's at the heart of the scandal -- were mysteriously lost.

This is suspicious for several reasons: First, the emails supposedly disappeared just 10 days after Rep. Dave Camp, Chairman of the Ways and Means Committee, first inquired about whether the IRS was engaged in targeting conservative groups. Next, the IRS Commissioner had -- up until this week -- assured Congress that he could and would produce all of Lerner's documents. The head of the National Archives, David Ferriero, responded to the IRS' announcement by testifying that the IRS "did not follow the law" by not telling his office about the lost emails.

Lois Lerner, meanwhile, refuses to testify before Congress and has been held in contempt. The IRS Commissioner refuses to apologize to the American people.

What's at stake here, with the IRS scandal, is nothing less than the future of the First Amendment. As Americans, one of our most cherished values is freedom of speech. Our Founders enshrined free speech in the Constitution, and we have worked over many generations to protect that cherished principle from any and all threats.

What the IRS did - silencing people who simply wanted to express their constitutional freedom -- is precisely the kind of tyranny that we freed ourselves from during the Revolutionary War. And if it took place in a foreign country today, we would all be united in condemning it.

President Obama promised the American people the "most transparent administration in history." What we've gotten, instead, is one of the most dishonest and arrogant administrations in history, but without a mainstream media willing to hold them accountable.

Still, I am confident that House Republicans will get to the heart of the IRS scandal. When it comes to the IRS, we deserve nothing less than the truth. And we will get it.

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