A group of House conservatives warned their GOP leadership not to table an upcoming vote to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.
“At the end of the day, members of Congress have a choice,” Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., said. “They are either with the IRS or they are going to be with the American people.”
Huelskamp joined Rep. John Fleming, R-La., on the House floor Tuesday, where they introduced a resolution to impeach Koskinen, who they believe lied to Congress about missing emails and documents related to the agency targeting of conservative groups.
Fleming told reporters at a monthly gathering of conservatives that the leadership could respond to the resolution by calling for a series of votes, including one to censure Koskinen, which would be a much weaker punishment. Leaders could also move to table the resolution, effectively killing it.
“Most conservatives agree that anything that is procedurally taking off track this vote will be equivalent to voting ‘no’ on impeachment, which will be voting ‘yes’ on John Koskinen keeping his job,” Fleming said. “I think this is very problematic. The American people have become very frustrated with Republicans unable or unwilling to hold high-level officials in this government accountable for their actions.”
Koskinen has been heavily criticized by GOP lawmakers over his handling of the IRS targeting, which preceded his arrival.
Republicans believe Koskinen hid information from Congress about missing IRS emails that may have provided a clearer picture of who provided the directive to begin targeting Tea Party and other conservative groups seeking nonprofit status from the agency.
“He deleted, oversaw the deletion or knew about the deletion of up to 24,000 emails,” Huelskamp said. “He lied to Congress about it.”
Republican leaders and other GOP lawmakers have not embraced an impeachment vote because they question whether it meets the standard for such a punishment, which would result in Koskinen losing his job.
Republicans outside of the most conservative group of GOP lawmakers are more likely to back a vote to censure him.
But Huelskamp said any lawmaker who votes for a lesser punishment for Koskinen “is simply saying Congress doesn’t matter.”
