A Republican-led resolution to impeach the IRS commissioner will now head to the House Judiciary Committee, following a process that has not been used since 1876.
Nineteen members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee introduced the resolution Tuesday amid controversy over the Justice Department’s decision to end its investigation of the IRS without bringing any criminal charges.
But Democrats on the same committee blasted the majority members for the move, arguing the Republicans have “zero evidence” to support their accusations.
“This ridiculous resolution will demonstrate nothing but the Republican obsession with diving into investigative rabbit holes that waste tens of millions of taxpayer dollars while having absolutely no positive impact on a single American,” said Rep. Elijah Cummings, the Oversight Committee’s top Democrat. “Calling this resolution a ‘stunt’ or a ‘joke’ would be insulting to stunts and jokes.”
The impeachment resolution came hours after a Senate panel grilled Koskinen over his agency’s response to the Tea Party targeting scandal, which prompted a slew of recommendations from lawmakers on how to prevent a similar situation in the future.
It followed several days of Republican frustration over the Justice Department’s decision to end a nearly two-year probe.
“We have all kinds of confidence in the FBI. What we don’t have confidence in is the Justice Department,” Rep. Jim Jordan, who joined the impeachment effort, said Tuesday evening during an appearance on Fox News’ “Hannity.”
Jordan expressed disappointment with the Department of Justice’s announcement Friday that Lois Lerner, former head of the IRS’ tax-exempt unit, would not face consequences for her alleged role in targeting conservative groups.
“There’s all kinds of email evidence, where she says, ‘Tea Party is dangerous,’ where she says, ‘Well, we’re going to start a c(4) project next year, we have to make sure it’s not per se political.’ Which is a nice way of saying it is political, we’ve just got to try to hide the fact,” Jordan said of Lerner.
“So there was all kinds of intent on Lois Lerner’s part to target conservative groups, but yet this Justice Department said no to pressing and prosecuting Ms. Lerner and anyone else at the IRS who may have done something wrong,” he added.
Lerner is now retired from the IRS.
But John Koskinen, the tax agency’s commissioner, has remained in his position despite mounting calls for his removal. Although he joined the IRS after the alleged Tea Party targeting had already taken place, Koskinen has faced fierce criticism for his handling of investigations into IRS misconduct.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, chairman of the Oversight Committee, said the resolution he and his colleagues introduced will now head to the House Judiciary Committee.
A Judiciary Committee aide told the Washington Examiner the committee is aware of the filing and noted lawmakers are now looking over the details.
If the House voted to advance articles of impeachment, the Senate would need a two-thirds majority to remove Koskinen after examining the evidence against him.
In the case of the impeachment of a president, the chief justice of the Supreme Court presides over the Senate proceedings.
For other officials, the presiding official is less clear, but it would most likely be the president pro tempore of the Senate, which is Sen. Orrin Hatch.
Hatch led the Senate Finance Committee’s grilling of Koskinen Tuesday in a hearing that revealed a deep divide between Republican and Democratic views of the IRS scandal.
