IRS Cuts Ties with ACORN

WASHINGTON. D.C. – House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) issued the following statement today after the IRS announced it was severing ties with ACORN:

“ACORN’s failure to institute firewalls between its charitable and political activities have raised significant questions surrounding its management of federal dollars.  Cutting ties is the first step, but cannot be the last one.

“Self-investigation is not a sufficient substitute for action by the Congress, which is why I have written to the Chairman of the Oversight and Judiciary Committees to request that they convene immediate hearings into ACORN’s activities.

Last week, Ranking Member Issa and Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Ranking Member Susan Collins (R-Maine) sent a letter to J. Russell George, the Inspector General who has authority over the IRS, calling on him to submit to the Suspension and Disbarment Official any evidence that ACORN was submitting false or fraudulent filings to the IRS.

In August, Issa wrote to wrote a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman calling on him to investigate ACORN’s compliance with the tax code and to examine the appropriateness of their tax status and designation.

Click Here to View the letter Ranking Member Issa sent today to Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Towns and Judiciary Committee Chairman Conyers