House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa, R-Calif., today released a new staff report, “The Internal Revenue Service’s Targeting of Conservative Tax-Exempt Applicants: Report of Findings for the 113th Congress.” The report represents findings from the review of over 1.3 million pages of documents and 52 transcribed interviews with IRS, Treasury, and Justice Department employees.

“In the wake of Ms. Lerner’s refusal to testify and answer questions, this report offers detailed evidence about steps she took to crack down on organizations that exercised their Constitutional rights to free political speech,” said Chairman Issa. “She involved herself in efforts to apply unprecedented scrutiny to new applicants, existing organizations, and to write new rules after President Obama and other prominent Democrats expressed outrage at the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ...

1. In October 2010, Lerner told a Duke University group: “The Supreme Court dealt a huge blow, overturning a 100-year-old precedent that basically corporations couldn’t give directly to political campaigns.  And everyone is up in arms because they don’t like it.  The Federal Election Commission can’t do anything about it.  They want the IRS to fix the problem.” Who exactly wanted the IRS to “fix the problem” caused by Citizens United? 2. In February 2011, ...

“Ms. Lerner’s testimony remains critical to the Committee’s investigation,” wrote Chairman Issa. “Documents and testimony obtained by the Committee show that she played a significant role in scrutinizing applications for tax exempt status from conservative organizations. Documents also show that Ms. Lerner participated in “off plan” work to develop rules that would allow the IRS to stifle constitutionally protected political speech by non-profit groups. Ms. Lerner’s testimony ...

WASHINGTON – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) and Regulatory Affairs Subcommittee Chairman Jim Jordan today requested that Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen withdraw a proposed regulation limiting political speech by nonprofit organizations. The Committee’s investigation into the IRS’s targeting of ...

“It is unbelievable that the Department would choose such an individual to examine the federal government’s systematic targeting and harassment of organizations opposed to the President’s policies,” the letter continues. “At the very least, Ms. Bosserman’s involvement is highly inappropriate and has compromised the Administration’s investigation of the IRS.”

“This new effort by the Obama Administration to limit traditional advocacy efforts by social welfare organizations will have a much more profound impact on grassroots and community organizations than on the well-heeled groups it supposedly targets. The fact that the Administration's new effort only applies to social welfare organizations -- and not powerful unions or business groups -- underscores that this is a crass political effort by the Administration to get what political advantage they ...

WASHINGTON - At a hearing today before the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Sarah Hall Ingram, the top Obamacare official at the Internal Revenue Service, today was unable to recall details about her own e-mail correspondence with White House officials the IRS has indicated contained legally protected confidential taxpayer information.  The information was apparently disclosed during her efforts to counsel senior White House officials in response to lawsuits from ...

WASHINGTON – On Wednesday, October 9th, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa , R-Calif., will convene a hearing on the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) implementation and enforcement of ObamaCare. The hearing will feature testimony from Sarah Hall Ingram, Director of the IRS’s Affordable Care Act Office, and will examine the operational ...

“Lois Lerner’s exit from the IRS does not alter the Oversight Committee’s interest in understanding why applicants for tax exempt status were targeted and inappropriately treated because of their political beliefs. We still don’t know why Lois Lerner, as a senior IRS official, had such a personal interest in directing scrutiny and why she denied improper conduct to Congress. Her departure does not answer these questions or diminish the Committee’s interest in hearing her testimony.”