The IRS Commissioner Is About to Have a Bad Day
John Koskinen’s days as Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service could soon be over.
The embattled head of the nation’s tax-collecting agency faces a critical vote Wednesday that will determine his future as a government employee. The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform will vote on whether or not to censure him—which Republicans say will be a precursor to impeachment.
If censured by Congress, Koskinen would lose his government pension.
Conservatives in the House Republican Conference have been outraged by the IRS commissioner’s handling of the investigations into the 2013 “targeting” scandal. Koskinen also faces impeachment for his direct involvement in a failure to preserve evidence connected to former IRS official Lois Lerner and then taking four months to tell Congress about the deletion of some of the evidence.
U.S. Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight Committee, forwarded the articles of impeachment to the House Judiciary Committee. He also drafted the letter of censure that is also currently being considered.
When he introduced the articles of impeachment last fall, the congressman said Koskinen “violated the public trust.” He said he meant for his actions to signal to Americans the IRS is “under repair” and Executive Branch officials who violate the public trust will be held accountable.
“[Koskinen] failed to comply with a congressionally issued subpoena, documents were destroyed on his watch, and the public was consistently misled,” Chaffetz said. “Impeachment is the appropriate tool to restore public confidence in the IRS and to protect the institutional interests of Congress.”
The House Judiciary Committee is scheduled to review the standards for impeachment on Wednesday.
