House Oversight Committee head Darrell Issa, angry by what he sees as the purposeful stonewalling of White House officials to stand and account for the perceived targeting of tea party people, has set yet another hearing for the Internal Revenue Service commissioner.
Staffers for the committee say neither the Justice Department nor the Obama administration have given signs that a proper investigation into the scandal is in fact going forth, The Daily Mail reported. Meanwhile, a new election cycle approaches — and it’s still not clear how the IRS foot-dragging over nonprofit exemption status applications from conservative groups affected the last election, aides said.
Mr. Issa, for his part, is frustrated with what he sees as a White House dodge. One of the aides to his Republican committee members suggested that the federal government was lurching toward a constitutional crisis due to the lack of openness and accountability, The Daily Mail said.
“They’ve blown off the subpoenas,” the aide said, in the media outlet, speaking of the committee’s previous demands from the Treasury Department and the White House for legal documents about the affair. “If the DOJ keeps dragging its heels, too, and can just get away with it, why do we have an oversight committee in the first place? It’s like the White House has never heard of the separation of powers.”
The House of Representatives previously found Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt for withholding documents related to “Operation Fast and Furious,” the gun-running program that resulted in the killing of a U.S. border patrol agent.
While the White House has stated that the IRS targeting of conservative and tea party groups was an issue of concern and that the Justice Department was investigating, Mr. Obama nonetheless said during Super Bowl Sunday that he was confident there was “not even a smidgen of corruption” that would be uncovered, The Daily Mail reported.
Mr. Issa’s committee is holding hearings for the tax commissioner on Wednesday, the newspaper said.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.