House Republicans reached an agreement late Wednesday to delay an expected Thursday vote dealing with the impeachment of IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.
Instead of a vote Thursday, the House Judiciary Committee will hold impeachment proceedings on Koskinen next week, on Sept. 21.
“This hearing will give every American the opportunity to hear John Koskinen answer under oath why he misled Congress, allowed evidence pertinent to an investigation to be destroyed, and defied Congressional subpoenas and preservation orders,” the conservative House Freedom Caucus said in a statement late Wednesday. “It will also remove any lingering excuses for those who have been hesitant to proceed with this course of action.”
The extra layer of process means a vote on impeachment is now most likely to happen in November, after the election.
Conservatives have pushed for Koskinen’s impeachment, and blame the IRS chief for overseeing the destruction of evidence lawmakers sought as they investigated the IRS targeting scandal.
But many other GOP lawmakers weren’t so keen to push that hard to punish Koskinen in a tough election year, and some were thought to favor a milder censure of the embattled agency head.
Reps. John Fleming, R-La., and Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., introduced an impeachment resolution on Tuesday, which put GOP leaders in the position of either letting it come up for a vote, tabling it, or sending it to the Judiciary Committee. It wasn’t clear what leaders would do until late Wednesday.
Some reports suggested that key GOP lawmakers were worried that the resolution was rushed to the floor without any consideration by the Judiciary Committee, and that concern appears to have won out in the compromise to delay floor action on the resolution.
