A group of Republican lawmakers may try to force the House to vote on whether to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, who they say has withheld information from Congress and has done a poor job reforming the embattled agency.
The House Freedom Caucus, a conservative faction, could bring up the impeachment measure as a privileged resolution by Thursday, when the House is scheduled to adjourn for the summer. The resolution isn’t on the leadership schedule now.
“There are several options, but that is one of them,” Rep. John Fleming, R-La., told the Washington Examiner when asked about the possibility. “It hasn’t been committed to yet.”
A vote to impeach Koskinen has not been endorsed by the GOP leadership or Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., who instead wants to focus on promoting the Republican agenda ahead of the November election.
Republican leadership has been in talks with the Freedom Caucus chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, about the matter, lawmakers told the Examiner, but GOP leadership aide said they haven’t heard anything about it.
A Jordan spokesman did not respond to an inquiry about a plan to try to bring up the impeachment resolution.
Republicans who want to impeach Koskinen say he withheld information from Congress in hearings about IRS targeting of conservative groups, and did not do enough to recover lost emails sent by IRS officials believed to be responsible for the targeting. Republicans are also critical of decreased customer service for taxpayers, who are often left on hold for hours seeking help from agents.
Most of the clashes between Koskinen and Congress have occurred in the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee. The panel has voted to censure Koskinen, and last year introduced the impeachment resolution.
“Commissioner Koskinen violated the public trust,” said Oversight Committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah. “He failed to comply with a congressionally issued subpoena, documents were destroyed on his watch and the public was consistently misled.”
But there is little appetite among most GOP lawmakers to try to remove Koskinen.
Republican leaders have instead tried to mollify conservatives by sending the matter to the House Judiciary Committee, which has held two hearings but has not yet called for impeachment.
“The House Judiciary Committee is reflecting on the discussion and ideas presented at the hearing and whether Congress should take further action,” panel spokeswoman Jessica Collins told the Examiner on Tuesday.
