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Darrell Issa seen plowing ahead with IRS probe amid new evidence By JOHN BRESNAHAN and LAUREN FRENCH | 3/7/14 2:00 PM EST Updated: 3/7/14 3:53 PM EST Not even a trove of new evidence will stop Darrell Issa from going after Lois Lerner’s testimony. The House Oversight Committee Chairman is plowing forward with plans to hold the former IRS official in contempt of Congress - possibly as early as next week - despite word from the tax agency that it plans to hand over a broad set of documents spanning Lerner’s entire career at the IRS. Republicans have long sought...

Media Research Center President Brent Bozell appeared on Fox News’ “The Kelly File” last night and chastised the networks for skipping the substance of the latest congressional hearing on the IRS’ targeting of conservative groups. Bozell’s comments came after Lois Lerner, the IRS official at the center of the scandal, once again refused to answer questions during a congressional hearing, instead choosing to use her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. Rather than discussing the merits of the latest hearing, all three networks chose instead to play up the verbal confrontation between Chairman Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Congressman Elijah Cummings (D-MD),...

March 6, 2014 Oversight lawmaker: Holding Lois Lerner in contempt is ‘where we’re moving’ Patrick Howley The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is moving in the direction of holding ex-IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress sooner rather than later, committee member Rep. Jim Jordan told The Daily Caller.“I think that’s where we’re moving,” Jordan said. “I think that’s where this is headed.”Jordan added that he feels holding Lerner in contempt is “the right thing to do.”An Oversight Committee staffer confirmed that a contempt charge is being considered.Lerner invoked the Fifth Amendment on each question Issa asked...

Republicans are inching toward a vote to hold former IRS official Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress after fireworks erupted at a House hearing on the tea party targeting on Wednesday. Lerner, former head of the IRS tax-exempt unit and a lightning rod for Republicans in the nine-month-old scandal, invoked her Fifth Amendment right to refuse to answer self-incriminating questions at a House Oversight and Government Reform hearing — as she did at a May hearing last year. Across the Capitol campus, Speaker John Boehner threatened to hold her in contempt if she continues to refuse to testify. “I’ll wait...

VIDEO: 4 minutes - Rep. Marcia Fudge's oral presentation of the privileged resolution on House floor. The chairwoman of the Congressional Black Caucus is calling House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) to be stripped of his gavel for his behavior at a contentious IRS hearing on Wednesday. Rep. Marcia Fudge (D-Ohio) told Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday that Issa’s conduct in the hearing — which included cutting off the microphone of Rep. Elijah Cummings (Md.), the ranking Democrat — amounted to “an affront to the expectations of the American people.” Fudge also said Issa should apologize on the House...

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Same song, different verse. More of the same. All of these adjective phrases aptly describe what happened in Congress yesterday. Darrell Issa had requested Lois Lerner return to his committee and testify about the IRS targeting of conservative groups for political purposes. As it was last year, her answer was the same. She came, she sat, and when she was asked a question, she respectfully declined to answer on the advice of her attorney. She specifically stated she was exercising her Fifth Amendment rights. After a few short minutes, Darrell...

Hissy fit! Moments ago, embattled ex-Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner appeared before Darrell Issa's House Oversight Committee. She was supposedly there to answer questions about the IRS targeting of Tea Party groups.  You may remember that President Obama has dismissed this entire scandal because he claims there wasn't "even a smidgen of corruption" involved. That's weird, because Lois Lerner promptly invoked her rights under the 5th Amendment and refused to answer any questions. For the record, the 5th Amendment is the one that deals with not offering testimony that might incriminate yourself.  You'd think that would be hard to do if...

A House committee is planning a showdown next week with a former Internal Revenue Service official who declined to answer questions last year about agency targeting of tea-party groups. The former official, Lois Lerner, appeared at a contentious hearing House Oversight and Government Reform Committee last May, soon after news broke that the IRS had targeted grassroots conservative groups for special scrutiny as they sought tax-exempt status. At the hearing, Ms. Lerner made an opening statement asserting her innocence of any wrongdoing, then sought to invoke her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. She declined to answer questions from committee members...

The following Republicans voted Tuesday to raise the government's borrowing limit: John Boehner, R-Ohio. Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy,R-Calif. Chief Deputy Whip Pete Roskam, R-Ill. Ken Calvert, R-Calif. Dave Camp, R-Mich. Michael Grimm, R-N.Y. Richard Hanna, R-N.Y. Doc Hastings, R-Wash. Darrell Issa, R-Calif. Devin Nunes, R-Calif. Hal Rogers, R-Ky. Dave Reichert, R-Wash. Chris Collins, R-N.Y. Howard Coble, R-N.C. Charlie Dent, R-Pa. Mike Fitzpatrick, R-Pa. Pete King, R-N.Y. Frank LoBiondo, R-N.J. Buck McKeon, R-Calif. Patrick Meehan, R-Pa. Gary Miller, R-Calif. Ed Royce, R-Calif. John Runyan, R-N.J. John Shimkus, R-Ill. Chris Smith, R-N.J. David Valadao, R-Calif. Frank Wolf,...

The Republican leading the investigation into the Benghazi terror attack said the “failure” didn't lie with Hillary Clinton and that her “legacy” was “mostly intact” for a 2016 presidential run. The show of support for the former secretary of State by House Oversight Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) is among the surprising revelations in the new book “HRC: State Secrets and the Rebirth of Hillary Clinton,” by The Hill's Amie Parnes and Politico's Jonathan Allen. Issa made the comments in a December 2012 interview, at a time when Republicans were still focusing their anger on inaccurate administration talking points they claimed...

Tuesday on the Fox News Channel, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA) reacted to the the Congressional Budget Office’s (CBO) new report that the Affordable Care Act will reduce full-time employment by about 2.5 million jobs by 2024. Issa had an ominous warning that unfortunately more jobs will be lost before Republicans can hopefully take back the Senate in the mid-term elections and fix it...

House Republicans are preparing to unveil their own broad template for overhauling the nation’s immigration system this week, potentially offering a small opening for President Obama and congressional Democrats to pass bipartisan legislation before the end of the year. Speaker John A. Boehner of Ohio and other Republican leaders are expected to release a one-page statement of immigration principles this week at their annual retreat in Cambridge, Md., according to aides with knowledge of the plan. The document is expected to call for border security and enforcement measures, as well as providing a path to legal status — but not...

HUNTSVILLE, TEXAS — A Mexican national was executed Wednesday night in Texas for killing a Houston police officer, despite pleas and diplomatic pressure from the Mexican government and the U.S. State Department to halt the punishment. Edgar Tamayo, 46, received a lethal injection for the January 1994 fatal shooting of Officer Guy Gaddis, 24. Asked by a warden if he had a final statement, he mumbled "no" and shook his head. As the lethal dose of pentobarbital began taking effect, he took a few breaths and then made one slightly audible snore before all movement stopped. He was pronounced dead...

John Boehner is planning to unveil a set of Republican principles for immigration reform before President Obama's State of the Union address, aiming to show the GOP is not hostile to legislation that might win them Hispanic voters. -snip if leadership's principles receive some positive feedback, Goodlatte, Cantor, and Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., could advance legislation they have discussed for the last several months. As yet, there is no legislative language drafted, however. Cantor and Goodlatte have talked about a path to citizenship for undocumented "dreamers" who came to this country as kids. Even Rep. Joe Heck, R-Nev., is discussing...

Hopes for undocumented immigrants stranded in political limbo will have to wait at least another year. In a wide-ranging interview on congress’s next session, Representative Darrell Issa, who drafted the high-skilled version of immigration reform, says there’s too much “animosity” on the issue within the government to find a meaningful compromise before the next election. “Comprehensive immigration reform is hard to do with the best environment between the executive branch between the House and Senate. We don’t have the best opportunity,” he explains. “if we can find a compromise that is bi-partisan on the 11 million [undocumented workers], I think...

Congressman Darrell Issa (R-CA), Chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, and Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH), Chairman of the Economic Growth Subcommittee, sent a harsh letter to Attorney General Holder Wednesday accusing the Department of Justice of abusing its power and intimidating banks through its "Operation Choke Point." In the letter, Issa and Jordan stated, "[t]he [House Oversight and Government Reform] Committee is concerned that both the goal and mechanisms of Operation Choke Point may constitute a serious mismanagement and abuse of the Department´s FIRREA [Financial Institution Reform and Recovery Act of 1989] authority." Breitbart News broke the

Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) in 2014 will pursue the IRS scandal, the deadly Benghazi attack and the botched Fast and Furious operation in what will likely be his last year as the House GOP's chief investigator. Issa sounded a cautionary note that the investigations might not conclude while he has the gavel. “The administration wraps up investigations. We are done when we are done … there shouldn’t be any sort of effort to load in or unload" before his term limit of six years as the top Republican on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee ends in December. Rep. John...

It may come next week or maybe six months from now, but House Republicans will decisively determine whether to kill immigration reform or make a real attempt at passing it. No one would be surprised if Speaker John Boehner chose the former option. But the longer Boehner takes to decide, the more ground he cedes to states dominated by single party politics and eager to craft immigration laws in the face of a crippled Congress. Congressional inaction has left millions of families increasingly living in two parallel universes. Republican-run states turn cops into border patrol agents and cut undocumented immigrants...

Twelve-year-old Jason Penate spent the holidays hanging close by his father. They picked out a Christmas tree and decorated the front window of their Gainesville, Va., home with candy canes, and Jason tried very hard not to think about whether his father would still be here in the new year. Jorge Penate, a Guatemalan national who came to the United States illegally in 1997, has a hearing scheduled Monday that will determine whether he can stay in the country. A drunken driving arrest two years ago launched deportation proceedings and cast his family’s future into uncertainty.Jason wrote a letter to...

The Talk Shows December 29th, 2013 Guests to be interviewed today on major television talk shows: FOX NEWS SUNDAY (Fox Network): Reps. Mike Rogers, R-Mich., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif.; Democratic former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean.MEET THE PRESS (NBC): Reps. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., and Joaquin Castro, D-Texas.FACE THE NATION (CBS): Gen. Michael Hayden, Former National Security Agency Director; NSA whistleblower Thomas Drake.THIS WEEK (ABC): A look at game changers in 2013 (I can’t help thinking it’s Auburn running back Chris Davis).STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Secretary of State John Kerry. STATE OF THE UNION (CNN): Neera Tanden, president and CEO of...