Conservative House lawmakers said Thursday that they achieved “a huge win” in a deal to postpone a floor vote to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.
Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and leaders of the House Freedom Caucus worked out a last-minute deal Wednesday to postpone the impeachment vote, which Rep. John Fleming, R-La., had called up on Tuesday. Instead of the vote, the Judiciary panel will hold an impeachment hearing Wednesday where Koskinen will be questioned under oath.
Fleming, a Freedom Caucus member, said Thursday the group would “still reserve the right” to bring up an impeachment vote, but said it would come after the November election at the earliest.
“To me, this is a huge win for us because there is more information,” Fleming said. “We want to get him under oath and explain why he did what he did. Then we’ll have even more information to move forward, if indeed the evidence comes out that he was corrupt and certainly not protective of the important information necessary for this case.”
Republicans have been battling Koskinen for many months over the IRS chief’s handling of emails and other data related to the agency’s history of targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.
Many GOP lawmakers believe Koskinen withheld information and did not adequately work to preserve critical emails and other data related to the targeting.
“We want to get him under oath and explain to us why he did what he did and why he didn’t take custody of the tapes,” Fleming said, referring to the lost emails, “why he allowed them to be destroyed, why he lied to Congress about all of this. We want to get him on record.”
But others are nervous about the vote, and the party is known to be split on whether to impeach Koskinen or not. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said Thursday he was not involved directly in the deal.
“The members worked the differences out with themselves and the committee of jurisdiction,” Ryan said. That’s how I like getting things handled here. This agreement is a good way of getting things worked out.”
Meanwhile, not all conservatives are satisfied with the deal. Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., told reporters Thursday he believed the impeachment vote would move forward next week.
His spokesman has so far not responded to a request for a comment on Huelskamp’s claim, which Ryan denied.
“My understanding is in lieu of the vote, they are going to have the hearing,” Ryan said.
The Tea Party Patriots issued a statement denouncing the deal and called for an impeachment vote before Congress leaves town ahead of the November election.
“Are congressmen really willing to go home and say they sided with the IRS over the American taxpayer?” spokeswoman Jenny Beth Martin said. “That they sided with the IRS over their constituents?”
