Will we or won’t we see a vote in the House to impeach Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner John Koskinen?
It was widely expected that members of the House Freedom Caucus would force a vote this morning to impeach Koskinen over allegations tied to his handling of the investigation into the IRS tax-exempt organization scandal. As it turns out, there won’t be a vote today after all.
(You can see a timeline of the events related to the scandal here.)
The push for impeachment has been spearheaded by the House Freedom Caucus. The conservative caucus, led by Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH), has repeatedly called for Koskinen’s dismissal, claiming that the agency head has obstructed Congress’ efforts to investigate how conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status were singled out beginning as early as 2010. Koskinen, who was sworn into office in December of 2013, has consistently disagreed with the House Freedom Caucus’ characterization of his actions.
(For a detailed look at the House Freedom Caucus, check out this Pew Foundation piece.)
The IRS isn’t popular which has put many Republicans in the House in the tricky position of balancing taxpayer sentiment over the scandal with Koskinen’s actions. Many in the House find Koskinen’s actions distasteful – perhaps even incompetent – but not necessarily impeachable. And, even if they do find that his actions reach the level of impeachable offenses, not everyone in the House agrees that Koskinen has been afforded due process.
Here’s how impeachment typically works. Normally, an impeachment resolution is referred to the House Judiciary Committee which is tasked with the “infrequent but important role in impeachment proceedings.” After review, the Committee conducts an inquiry into the allegations raised in the resolution. After an inquiry, the Committee takes a vote and refers charges to the full House after receiving the Committee’s Report.
That hasn’t happened here. Instead, the impeachment process is being shepherded through the House following a staff report from the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT). Chaffetz, who does not have a legal background, introduced a resolution to move impeachment proceedings forward last October. Since impeachment is a legal proceeding, while anyone can make a motion to start the process, the Judiciary Committee determines whether there are sufficient grounds for impeachment. Because of the technical nature of the work of the Judiciary Committee, members tend to have a legal background: Judiciary Chair Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) is a lawyer. To date, Goodlatte has not moved the action forward amid suggestions that he does not agree that Koskinen deserves impeachment.
That left members of the House in a bind: rush a vote that will likely not go anywhere or wait and see whether the Judiciary Committee will move forward. It appears that the House opted for the latter. A vote was not put forth today but instead, it appears that Koskinen will appear in front of the Judiciary Committee to testify next week. In return, it’s been whispered that any vote on impeachment would be pushed off until fall – likely after the election.
As of this morning, Koskinen’s camp would not confirm any such “deal” but Koskinen has made it clear previously that he is willing to appear before the Judiciary Committee.
The Freedom Caucus is claiming a victory, referring to the hearing as “impeachment proceedings.” The Caucus said, in a statement:
After months of tireless efforts, the House Judiciary Committee will finally hold impeachment proceedings of IRS Commissioner John Koskinen next Wednesday.
This hearing next week will give every American the opportunity to hear John Koskinen answer under oath why he misled Congress, allowed evidence pertinent to an investigation to be destroyed, and defied Congressional subpoenas and preservation orders. It will also remove any lingering excuses for those who have been hesitant to proceed with this course of action.
For too long, Obama Administration officials have been able to get away with acts that would have dramatic consequences for ordinary Americans.The American people see two standards — one for the powerful and politically connected, and another for ordinary Americans. This is a critical opportunity for Congress to show it works for and answers to the American people.
However, the Judiciary Committee is taking a different tack, referring to Koskinen’s appearance as a “third hearing to examine the allegations of misconduct and articles of impeachment filed against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.” According to the Committee, “Koskinen will be the sole witness before the Committee.” The hearing is slated for Wednesday, September 21, 2016, at 10:00 a.m.
Among the allegations, Koskinen will have to address include those that he purposefully lied to Congress and that he tried to cover up former IRS Tax Exempt Organization Director Lois Lerner’s 2011 hard drive failure by waiting to notify Congress of the event. Koskinen has consistently denied that he purposefully lied to Congress and claimed that the delay in reporting the 2011 hard drive crash was tied to his directive to staff to attempt to recover the missing emails for purposes of the report. Emails at issue which were not produced by the IRS but were subsequently produced by the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) represented less than 5% of the emails recovered from the hard drive loss and none of those emails, Koskinen claims, were found to be material to the investigation.
(For more on those missing emails, check out this prior post.)
Overall, Koskinen has continued to deny that he or his agency has failed to cooperate with investigations into the scandal. He claims that over 250 IRS employees have spent more than 160,000 hours responding to congressional inquiries related to Lerner, producing over 1.3 million documents at a cost of nearly $20 million.
No criminal charges have been filed against any IRS employee related to the scandal, even for Lerner. Lerner, however, was found in contempt of Congress for her failure to testify in the matter.
The House would need a majority of votes to impeach the Commissioner and move the measure to the Senate, where it would certainly fail to secure the 2/3 majority needed to remove him from office. All 183 Democrats in the House are expected to vote against impeachment. The Freedom Caucus would need almost all of the Republicans to support the measure and outside of the caucus, while many Republicans are not fans of the IRS, there are a number of Republicans who do not appear to support impeachment. House leadership, including House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) has remained largely silent in terms of direction. Earlier this month, Ryan described the matter as “more or less a conscience vote. Something that we all have to decide on our own.”
