[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H. Res. 565 Engrossed in House (EH)]
H. Res. 565
In the House of Representatives, U. S.,
May 7, 2014.
Whereas in February of 2010, the Internal Revenue Service (``IRS'') began
targeting conservative nonprofit groups for extra scrutiny in connection
with applications for tax-exempt status;
Whereas on May 14, 2013, the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration
(TIGTA) issued an audit report entitled, ``Inappropriate Criteria Were
Used to Identify Tax-Exempt Applications for Review'';
Whereas the TIGTA audit report found that from 2010 until 2012 the IRS
systematically subjected tax-exempt applicants to extra scrutiny based
on inappropriate criteria, including use of the phrases ``Tea Party'',
``Patriots'', and ``9/12'';
Whereas the TIGTA audit report found that the groups selected for extra scrutiny
based on inappropriate criteria were subjected to years-long delay
without cause;
Whereas the TIGTA audit report found that the groups selected for extra scrutiny
based on inappropriate criteria were subjected to inappropriate and
burdensome information requests, including requests for information
about donors and political beliefs;
Whereas on January 27, 2010, in his State of the Union Address, President Barack
Obama criticized the Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission
decision, saying: ``With all due deference to separation of powers, last
week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that I believe will
open the floodgates for special interests--including foreign
corporations--to spend without limit in our elections'';
Whereas throughout 2010, President Barack Obama and congressional Democrats
publicly criticized the Citizens United decision and conservative-
oriented tax-exempt organizations;
Whereas the Exempt Organizations Division within the IRS's Tax-Exempt and
Government Entities Division has jurisdiction over the processing and
determination of tax-exempt applications;
Whereas on September 15, 2010, Lois G. Lerner, Director of the Exempt
Organizations Division, initiated a project to examine political
activity of 501(c)(4) organizations, writing to her colleagues, ``[w]e
need to be cautious so it isn't a per se political project'';
Whereas on October 19, 2010, Lois G. Lerner told an audience at Duke
University's Sanford School of Public Policy that ``everybody'' is
``screaming'' at the IRS ``to fix the problem'' posed by the Citizens
United decision;
Whereas on February 1, 2011, Lois G. Lerner wrote that the ``Tea Party matter
[was] very dangerous,'' explaining ``This could be the vehicle to go to
court on the issue of whether Citizen's [sic] United overturning the ban
on corporate spending applies to tax exempt rules'';
Whereas Lois G. Lerner ordered the Tea Party tax-exempt applications to proceed
through a ``multi-tier review'' involving her senior technical advisor
and the Chief Counsel's office of the IRS;
Whereas Carter Hull, a 48-year veteran of the Federal Government, testified that
the ``multi-tier review'' was unprecedented in his experience;
Whereas on June 1, 2011, Holly Paz, Director of Rulings and Agreements within
the Exempt Organizations Division, requested the tax-exempt application
filed by Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies for review by Lois G.
Lerner's senior technical advisor;
Whereas in June 2011, Lois G. Lerner ordered the Tea Party cases to be renamed
because she viewed the term ``Tea Party'' to be ``pejorative'';
Whereas on March 22, 2012, IRS Commissioner Douglas Shulman was specifically
asked about the targeting of Tea Party groups applying for tax-exempt
status during a hearing before the House Committee on Ways and Means, to
which he replied, ``I can give you assurances * * * [t]here is
absolutely no targeting.'';
Whereas on April 26, 2012, IRS Exempt Organizations Director Lois G. Lerner
informed the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform that
information requests were done in ``the ordinary course of the
application process'';
Whereas on May 4, 2012, IRS Exempt Organizations Director Lois G. Lerner
provided to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
specific justification for the IRS's information requests;
Whereas prior to the November 2012 election, the IRS provided 31 applications
for tax-exempt status to the investigative website ProPublica, all of
which were from conservative groups and nine of which had not yet been
approved by the IRS, and Federal law prohibits public disclosure of
application materials until after the application has been approved;
Whereas the initial ``test'' cases developed by the IRS were applications filed
by conservative-oriented Tea Party organizations;
Whereas the IRS determined, by way of informal, internal review, that 75 percent
of the affected applications for 501(c)(4) status were filed by
conservative-oriented organizations;
Whereas on January 24, 2013, Lois G. Lerner e-mailed colleagues about Organizing
for Action, a tax-exempt organization formed as an offshoot of President
Barack Obama's election campaign, writing: ``Maybe I can get the DC
office job!'';
Whereas on May 8, 2013, Richard Pilger, Director of the Election Crimes Branch
of the Department of Justice's Public Integrity Section, spoke to Lois
G. Lerner about potential prosecution for false statements about
political campaign intervention made by tax-exempt applicants;
Whereas on May 10, 2013, IRS Exempt Organizations Director Lois G. Lerner
apologized for the IRS's targeting of conservative tax-exempt applicants
during a speech at an event organized by the American Bar Association;
Whereas the Ways and Means Committee determined that, of the 298 applications
delayed and set aside for extra scrutiny by the IRS, 83 percent were
from right-leaning organizations;
Whereas the Ways and Means Committee also determined that, as of Lois G.
Lerner's May 10, 2013 apology, only 45 percent of the right-leaning
groups set aside for extra scrutiny had been approved, while 70 percent
of left-leaning groups and 100 percent of the groups with
``progressive'' names had been approved;
Whereas the Ways and Means Committee has also determined that, of the groups
that were inappropriately subject to demands to divulge confidential
donors, 89 percent were right-leaning;
Whereas on May 15, 2013, Attorney General Holder testified before the Judiciary
Committee that the Department of Justice would conduct a
``dispassionate'' investigation into the IRS matter, and ``[t]his will
not be about
parties * * * this will not be about ideological persuasions * * *
anybody who has broken the law will be held accountable'';
Whereas on May 15, 2013, President Barack Obama called the IRS's targeting
``inexcusable'' and promised that he would ``not tolerate this kind of
behavior in any agency, but especially in the IRS, given the power that
it has and the reach that it has into all of our lives'';
Whereas the Attorney General has stated that the Department of Justice's
investigation involves components from the Civil Rights Division and the
Public Integrity Section;
Whereas the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Justice has a history of
politicization, as evident in the report by the Department of Justice
Office of Inspector General entitled, ``A Review of the Operations of
the Voting Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division'';
Whereas Barbara Bosserman, a trial attorney in the Civil Rights Division who in
the past several years has contributed nearly $7,000 to the Democratic
National Committee and President Barack Obama's political campaigns, is
playing a leading role in the Department of Justice's investigation;
Whereas the Public Integrity Section communicated with the IRS about the
potential prosecution of tax-exempt applicants;
Whereas on December 5, 2013, President Barack Obama declared in a national
television interview that the IRS's targeting of conservative tax-exempt
applicants was caused by a ``bureaucratic'' ``list'' by employees in
``an office in Cincinnati'';
Whereas on April 9, 2014, the House Committee on Ways and Means referred Lois G.
Lerner to the Department of Justice for criminal prosecution;
Whereas the House Committee on Ways and Means found that Lois G. Lerner used her
position to improperly influence agency action against conservative tax-
exempt organizations, denying these groups due process and equal
protection rights as guaranteed by the United States Constitution, in
apparent violation of section 242 of title 18, United States Code;
Whereas the House Committee on Ways and Means found that Lois G. Lerner targeted
Crossroads Grassroots Policy Strategies while ignoring similar liberal-
leaning tax-exempt applicants;
Whereas the House Committee on Ways and Means found that Lois G. Lerner impeded
official investigations by knowingly providing misleading statements to
the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, in apparent
violation of section 1001 of title 18, United States Code;
Whereas the House Committee on Ways and Means found that Lois G. Lerner may have
disclosed confidential taxpayer information, in apparent violation of
section 6103 of the Internal Revenue Code;
Whereas former Department of Justice officials have testified before a
subcommittee of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
that the circumstances of the Administration's investigation of the
IRS's targeting of conservative tax-exempt applicants warrant the
appointment of a special counsel;
Whereas Department of Justice regulations counsel attorneys to avoid the
``appearance of a conflict of interest likely to affect the public
perception of the integrity of the investigation or prosecution'';
Whereas since May 15, 2013, the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of
Investigation have refused to cooperate with congressional oversight of
the Administration's investigation of the IRS's targeting of
conservative tax-exempt applicants;
Whereas on January 13, 2014, unnamed officials at the Department of Justice
leaked to the media that no criminal charges would be appropriate for
IRS officials who engaged in the targeting activity, which undermined
the integrity of the Department of Justice's investigation;
Whereas on February 2, 2014, President Barack Obama stated publicly that there
was ``not even a smidgen of corruption'' in connection with the IRS
targeting activity;
Whereas on April 16, 2014, electronic mail communications between the Department
of Justice and the IRS were released showing that the Department of
Justice considered prosecuting conservative nonprofit groups for
engaging in political activity that is legal under Federal law, which
damaged the integrity of the Department and undermined its
investigation; and
Whereas the Code of Federal Regulations requires the Attorney General to appoint
a Special Counsel when he or she determines--
(1) that criminal investigation of a person or matter is warranted,
(2) that investigation or prosecution of that person or matter by a
United States Attorney's Office or litigating Division of the Department of
Justice would present a conflict of interest for the Department or other
extraordinary circumstances, and
(3) that under the circumstances, it would be in the public interest to
appoint an outside Special Counsel to assume responsibility for the matter:
Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Representatives that--
(1) the statements and actions of the IRS, the Department of
Justice, and the Obama Administration in connection with this matter
have served to undermine the Department of Justice's investigation;
(2) the Administration's efforts to undermine the investigation, and
the appointment of a person who has donated almost seven thousand
dollars to President Obama and the Democratic National Committee in a
lead investigative role, have created a conflict of interest for the
Department of Justice that warrants removal of the investigation from
the normal processes of the Department of Justice;
(3) further investigation of the matter is warranted due to the
apparent criminal activity by Lois G. Lerner, and the ongoing disclosure
of internal communications showing potentially unlawful conduct by
Executive Branch personnel;
(4) given the Department's conflict of interest, as well as the
strong public interest in ensuring that public officials who
inappropriately targeted American citizens for exercising their right to
free expression are held accountable, appointment of a Special Counsel
would be in the public interest; and
(5) Attorney General Holder should appoint a Special Counsel,
without further delay, to investigate the IRS's targeting of
conservative nonprofit advocacy groups.
Attest:
Clerk.