Posted on 08/18/2013 2:45:10 PM PDT by Libloather
Rep. Aaron Schock (R-Ill.) said late Friday that he worries that the Internal Revenue Service is so incompetent "that they can't stop their own illegal behavior."
The Illinois Republican, in an interview with Fox News, said that the agency was continuing to engage in the illegal targeting of conservative political groups, even after President Obama vowed the practice would stop when abuses were revealed earlier this summer.
"After the investigation had already begun, after the illegal behavior had already been exposed, they were asking pro-life groups how much of their time was being spent in prayer, how much of their time was being spent outside of abortion clinics, things that are clearly illegal for the IRS to ask when it's determining the tax-exempt status of any organization," Schock said.
House Republicans have seized on recent testimony from an IRS screener in Cincinnati who said earlier this month that because the agency hasn't issued any guidance in the wake of the targeting scandal, all applications from political advocacy groups are referred for secondary screening.
"The president said that, if, in fact, the claims were true, it would be outrageous. Well, the claims are true. And it is outrageous," Schock said. "And despite his promise to the American people that it was going to stop, it hasn't."
Democrats say that the complaints from congressional Republicans are overblown, and that the agency is no longer targeting specific ideological groups. President Obama himself has accused the GOP of pursuing "phony scandals," and White House press secretary Jay Carney has said that the IRS also targeted progressive groups.
In an interview with USA Today, Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) said Republicans are "trying to twist the facts to fit their political narrative."
"This particular screener is not singling out applications but rather sending all potential political advocacy cases for secondary screening out of an abundance of caution," Levin said.
But Schock said that Democrats are just hoping the scandal fades from the headlines.
"I would remind you that the only reason the American people are continuing to hear about this, the only reason that we know that the illegal targeting is continuing, is because we have a Republican-controlled House," Schock said. "The Democrats on the committee have already said if they ran the place, the investigation would be complete."
Obviously they could stop, and would immediately, if they were targeting liberal groups.
Dictatorship is here. 0bama found a way to silence the Tea Party and this is it. Just too effective to stop doing it. Midterms and 2016 ahead!
The GOOBers need to man up and defund the DNC’s corrupt IRS. The IRS is a threat to America’s security.
...not as long as Odungo is at the helm....
0-Zero thumbs his snout at the law.
The IRS and a whole alphabet of government agencies are loaded with ideological marxists. The illegal alien emptying the waste basket is probably the most honest guy in the place.
40 or 50 years ago when my mother went into social services work they taught her that eliminating the need for her job was her primary goal. (get people off welfare and back to work) Today the perpetuation of the social worker’s job is the primary goal.
The only way to stop them is to end them.
There is a big difference between “can’t” and “won’t”
This is just part of the “hope and change” dictatorship.
Help! I’m violating the people’s rights and I can;t stop!
The sad thing is all those people who do what they’re told even when they know it’s illegal. Maybe they figure they’re damned if they do and damned if they don’t.
The obvious parallels to substance abuse simply can’t be ignored. They are hooked on the narcotic of money and power.
Gosh, I hope no one getting harassed caps an IRS agent.
Problem is there’s bipartisan support in congress for targeting conservatives!
Hussein could stop it. Doesn’t want to.
Boehner could stop it also but apparently he doesn’t want to. He’d much rather keep the IRS issue simmering as a red meat distraction for conservatives while he pushes through amnesty
That’s why Boehner has his amnesty loving stooge Schock carrying the water on this issue. Nothing will happen on the IRS asssaults as long as it stays in committee. And that is just how the tan man wants it.
(Like criminaliens) What happens when bad behavior goes unpunished?
That’s right—you get more Democrats.
Why should they stop if there have been no consequences?
This is exactly why we have a Constitution in the first place. The power of Government is derived from the people. Not the other way around.
They won't stop, until they are placed in mechanical restraints, and taken to the cross bar hotel. Until that happens, there is no way they are going to stop. Being as that will not happen, they will continue doing this into the foreseeable future.
In an interview with USA Today, Rep. Sander Levin (D-Mich.) said Republicans are "trying to twist the facts to fit their political narrative."
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