Appointment of Special Counsel to Investigate Internal Revenue Service

Floor Speech

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Mr. Speaker, a year ago, when news broke that the IRS had been targeting Americans based on their political beliefs, the President of the United States said that it was outrageous. He said that: we demand full accountability.

Attorney General Eric Holder said that it was outrageous and unacceptable. Everybody agreed this was serious. Everybody agreed that this required a serious investigation; yet, as we sit here a year later, it is clear that we have not seen the action that we were promised.

First of all, the Department of Justice had been discussing with the IRS, as late as May of 2013, the possibility that some of these groups that had been targeted could end up being prosecuted criminally. The DOJ actually had a role with the IRS.

We know that the investigation is being led by somebody who is a big contributor to President Obama's reelection campaign.

Of course, at the Super Bowl earlier this year, the President said the investigation was essentially over. Nothing happened, he said. No, not even a smidgeon of impropriety. And, of course, the Department of Justice has leaked to the media that no prosecutions will in fact occur.

And when the President said as a senator in 2006 that the highly political context of the allegations and charges may lead some to surmise that political influence may compromise the investigation because this investigation is vital to restoring the public's faith in government, any appearance of bias, special favor, or political consideration would be a further blow to our democracy, that basically applies to what we have now.

The American people don't want their government targeting them and targeting their First Amendment rights. If that is done and power is abused, they need to be held accountable.

But when this is all said and done, I think the American people want to have confidence that this was looked at in a fair manner. And when you have all these political considerations swirling around, I don't think many Americans have confidence that the Department of Justice is doing this in a way that is not conflicted.

And, don't forget, the entire context of this whole scandal was targeting essentially the President's political opposition in the run-up to his reelection campaign.

So I am proud to stand here supporting this resolution. I think voting ``yes'' on it is voting ``yes'' for transparency and accountability in government.

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