WASHINGTON, D.C. – On Wednesday, all 45 Republican senators demanded that the Obama administration fully comply with congressional investigation requests for information on how the Internal Revenue Service unfairly targeted conservative groups.
In a letter led by Finance Committee ranking member Sen. Orrin Hatch and Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell, the senators outlined concerns regarding conflicting responses from the nonpartisan agency and said it is imperative the administration work with Congress to restore public confidence.
“The American people deserve to know what actions will be taken to ensure those who made these policy decisions at the IRS are being held fully accountable and more importantly what is being done to ensure that this kind of raw partisanship is fully eliminated from these critically important non-partisan government functions,” the letter said. “As such, we demand that your Administration comply with all requests related to Congressional inquiries without any delay, including making available all IRS employees involved in designing and implementing these prohibited political screenings, so that the public has a full accounting of these actions. It is imperative that the Administration be fully forthcoming to ensure that we begin to restore the confidence of our fellow citizens after this blatant violation of their trust. We look forward to working on this critical issue with the Administration’s full cooperation.”
The full text of the letter can be found here.
On Wednesday, Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah released the following statement:
“It would be a mistake for Republicans to view the latest IRS scandal as a typical partisan squabble between political parties. The real lesson is that our massive federal government bureaucracy is inherently dysfunctional, corrupt and intolerant regardless of who is in charge.
“The IRS is a powerful agency that can influence nearly every decision Americans make through its authority to tax and regulate. It is one of the primary beneficiaries of our out-of-control spending and runaway debt. Organizations and individuals that promote fiscal responsibility, balanced budgets, greater government accountability and more local autonomy present a threat to the federal expansion that gives the IRS its power. It should not come as a surprise, then, that the culture of the IRS would promote enhanced scrutiny of these groups.
“At its core, the IRS scandal is not the result of one political party attacking another. It is the inevitable consequence of a federal government that has gotten too big and too expensive to control. When an agency like the IRS can single out Tea Party groups, or the Department of Justice can monitor reporters’ conversations, or HHS regulators can openly extort the regulated and there are no consequences – we are no longer citizens but subjects.
“While it is important we get answers about how and why these groups were targeted by the IRS, firing a few employees will not solve the problem. The long-term solution is for the American people to demand that government be less involved, less intrusive and therefore less able to carry out these kinds of abuses.”
Submitted by: The Office of Sen. Orrin Hatch and Sen. Mike Lee
Email: [email protected]
