House vote on impeaching IRS chief possible next week
The House will vote as early as next week on a conservative effort to impeach IRS chief John Koskinen. But congressional GOP leaders still must decide how to avert a federal shutdown and finance federal efforts to contain the Zika virus, even as the approaching elections pressure them to avoid riling voters. After House Republicans met privately Wednesday for the first time since Congress returned from summer recess, leaders said GOP lawmakers would meet again next week to discuss their next steps on Koskinen’s impeachment. They said a House vote would come sometime after that. Conservatives have pushed for Koskinen’s removal since last year, saying he’s impeded their investigation of how the IRS treated tea party groups several years ago – before he led the agency. Others worry that with the effort certain to fail in the Senate should it get that far, it needlessly risks making the GOP look too partisan just before voters go to the polls. “Members are going to vote the way they want to vote on this,” House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters. But he added, “You have members on both sides of this.” The impeachment drive has prompted little enthusiasm among GOP leaders and is solidly opposed by Democrats. Even if the House votes to impeach Koskinen – the equivalent of formally charging him with a crime – the move is certain to go nowhere in the Senate, which has final say on removing an official from office. A resolution introduced by conservatives accuses Koskinen of not cooperating with congressional subpoenas for documents and making false statements to Congress about destroyed emails in the probe. Koskinen has said the charges are without substance. Republican leaders hope to resolve that and other issues and send Congress home by September’s end so lawmakers can campaign. In a post-summer fixture for Congress, Republicans and Democrats remain divided over federal expenditures. Lawmakers have a long way to go to complete spending legislation to keep agencies functioning after Sept. 30. With zero chance of completing all 12 spending bills by then, the key questions are how many weeks a temporary spending package will last, and whether the GOP can garner enough votes for such a measure without triggering a government shutdown sure to enrage voters. Many conservatives want to provide temporary spending into early next year, instead of extending it only into December. They don’t want to let a post-election, lame duck session of Congress make the year’s spending decisions because they say retiring lawmakers who no longer must face voters are more inclined to accept wasteful spending. President Barack Obama and Senate Democrat oppose that idea. Even House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., has said he wants to keep negotiating into the fall on full-year spending measures. “I’m sure we’ll have a successful outcome to make sure just that the trains are running on time,” Ryan told hometown radio host Stan Milam of AM 1380 in Janesville, Wisconsin, on Tuesday. Some conservatives said Wednesday they might support a short-term spending bill into December in exchange for language blocking money to resettle Syrian refugees in the United States, language opposed by most Democrats. Late Tuesday, the Senate used its first vote since returning to recess to highlight that partisan battling over financing the battle against Zika remains as bitter as ever. For the third time this year, Senate Democrats blocked a Republican measure to battle the virus. A 52-46 vote to advance the money fell short of the 60 votes needed as Democrats opposed provisions blocking Zika prevention and treatment money from going to Planned Parenthood clinics in Puerto Rico. Republicans called that a shaky excuse compared to the threat of the mosquito-carried Zika virus. No. 3 Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer of New York said the GOP was using the bill “to assuage the hard right.” There have been dozens of Zika cases in the political battleground state of Florida. Tuesday’s vote could prod Republicans to attach Zika money to temporary spending legislation. Part of the spending fight is over the Pentagon. Republicans want to use emergency war funds to artificially increase the basic defense budget by $16 billion next year. The Obama administration and its Democratic allies oppose the idea, saying if Republicans want more money for defense, domestic programs will have to receive an equal boost. Senate Democrats also blocked that measure from advancing Tuesday. Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
Gary Palmer joins resolution to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen
Alabama Congressman Gary Palmer (AL-06) and 18 other Republican members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee introduced a resolution Tuesday to start impeachment proceedings against IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “Mr. Koskinen has repeatedly provided misleading testimony to Congress and has failed to comply with a Congressional subpoena,” said Rep. Palmer. “This behavior is unacceptable, particularly for someone in such a powerful position.” In introducing the resolution, House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) said, “Commissioner Koskinen violated the public trust. He failed to comply with a congressionally issued subpoena, documents were destroyed on his watch, and the public was consistently misled. Impeachment is the appropriate tool to restore public confidence in the IRS and to protect the institutional interests of Congress. This action will demonstrate to the American people that the IRS is under repair, and signal that Executive Branch officials who violate the public trust will be held accountable.” According to the Committee’s press release, Commissioner Koskinen violated the public trust in the following ways: Failed to comply with a subpoena resulting in destruction of key evidence. Commissioner Koskinen failed to locate and preserve IRS records in accordance with a congressional subpoena and an internal preservation order. The IRS erased 422 backup tapes containing as many as 24,000 of Lois Lerner’s emails – key pieces of evidence that were destroyed on Koskinen’s watch. Failed to testify truthfully and provided false and misleading information. Commissioner Koskinen testified the IRS turned over all emails relevant to the congressional investigation, including all of Ms. Lerner’s emails. When the agency determined Ms. Lerner’s emails were missing, Commissioner Koskinen testified the emails were unrecoverable. These statements were false. Failed to notify Congress that key evidence was missing. The IRS knew Lois Lerner’s emails were missing in February 2014. In fact, they were not missing; the IRS destroyed the emails on March 4, 2014. The IRS did not notify Congress the emails were missing until June 2014 – four months later, and well after the White House and the Treasury Department were notified. Before going the impeachment route, Palmer along with 51 members of Congress, called on President Barack Obama to remove Commissioner Koskinen back in July. The White House failed to respond to their request.
IRS says thieves stole tax info from 100,000
Sophisticated criminals used an online service run by the IRS to access personal tax information from more than 100,000 taxpayers, part of an elaborate scheme to steal identities and claim fraudulent tax refunds, the IRS said Tuesday. The thieves accessed a system called “Get Transcript,” where taxpayers can get tax returns and other filings from previous years. In order to access the information, the thieves cleared a security screen that required knowledge about the taxpayer, including Social Security number, date of birth, tax filing status and street address, the IRS said. “We’re confident that these are not amateurs,” said IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. “These actually are organized crime syndicates that not only we but everybody in the financial industry are dealing with.” Koskinen wouldn’t say whether investigators think the criminals are based overseas — or where they obtained enough personal information about the taxpayers to access their returns. The IRS has launched a criminal investigation. The agency’s inspector general is also investigating. Identity thieves, both foreign and domestic, have stepped up their efforts in recent years to claim fraudulent tax refunds. The agency estimates it paid out $5.8 billion in fraudulent refunds to identity thieves in 2013. “Eighty percent of the of the identity theft we’re dealing with and refund fraud is related to organized crime here and around the world,” Koskinen said. “These are extremely sophisticated criminals with access to a tremendous amount of data.” Congress is already pressing the IRS for information about the breach. “That the IRS — home to highly sensitive information on every single American and every single company doing business here at home — was vulnerable to this attack is simply unacceptable,” said Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch of Utah, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. “What’s more, this agency has been repeatedly warned by top government watchdogs that its data security systems are inadequate against the growing threat of international hackers and data thieves.” Koskinen said the agency was alerted to the thieves when technicians noticed an increase in the number of taxpayers seeking transcripts. The IRS said they targeted the system from February to mid-May. The service has been temporarily shut down. Taxpayers sometimes need copies of old tax returns to apply for mortgages or college aid. While the system is shut down, taxpayers can still apply for transcripts by mail. The IRS said its main computer system, which handles tax filing submissions, remains secure. “In all, about 200,000 attempts were made from questionable email domains, with more than 100,000 of those attempts successfully clearing authentication hurdles,” the agency said. “During this filing season, taxpayers successfully and safely downloaded a total of approximately 23 million transcripts.” The agency is still determining how many fraudulent tax refunds were claimed this year using information from the stolen transcripts. Koskinen provided a preliminary estimate, saying less than $50 million was successfully claimed. Thieves can also use the information to claim fraudulent tax refunds in the future. As identity theft has exploded, the agency has added filters to its computer system to identify suspicious returns. These filters look for anomalies in the information provided by the taxpayer. Until recently, tax refund fraud has been surprisingly simple, once thieves obtain a taxpayer’s Social Security number and date of birth. Typically, thieves would file fake tax returns with made-up information early in the filing season, before the legitimate taxpayers filed their returns — and before employers and financial institutions filed wage and tax documents with the IRS. The refunds would often be sent electronically to prepaid debit cards or bank accounts. IRS officials say new computer filters are helping to stop many crude attempts at identity theft. This year, the IRS stopped almost 3 million suspicious returns, Koskinen said. However, old tax returns can help thieves fill out credible-looking returns in the future, helping them get around the IRS filters. Tax returns can include a host of personal information that can help someone steal an identity, including Social Security numbers and birthdates of dependents and spouses. The IRS said the thieves appeared to already have a lot of personal information about the victims. The IRS said it is notifying taxpayers whose information was accessed. Republished with permission of The Associated Press.
Mo Brooks calls for inquiry into Clinton Foundation contributions
U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, from Alabama’s 5th Congressional District, issued a call for an Internal Revenue Service review of financial contributions to the Bill, Hillary and Chelsea Clinton Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)3 organization that Brooks says inappropriately handled donations from foreign nationals while Mrs. Clinton was U.S. Secretary of State. Brooks also joined Tennessee Congresswoman Marsha Blackburn in penning a letter to the IRS urging their attention to the matter, which surfaced among revelations that Clinton allegedly sometimes used a private email account for state business. “I am pleased to join my colleague Marsha Blackburn in calling on the IRS to conduct a timely review of the Foundation’s tax-exempt status and shed light on these reports,” Brooks said in a statement released Tuesday afternoon. “As a non-profit, tax-exempt organization, we owe it to the American people to ensure the Clinton Foundation is acting within the scope of its charitable mission.” “An IRS investigation of the Clinton Foundation is a prudent first step,” Brooks continued. “I also support hoped-for steps two and three, a Congressional inquiry coupled with an investigation by the United States Justice Department.” The letter co-signed by Brooks is addressed to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen. It details allegations against the Clinton group and implores the agency to take action by beginning a probe into possible abuses of tax-exempt status. “…recent media reports have revealed that the Foundation failed to report millions of dollars in grants from foreign governments that it accepted while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State and that it facilitated private business transactions between foreign entities. As a result, given the substantial public interest involved, we feel a prompt review of the Foundation’s tax-exempt status is appropriate to determine whether it is acting within the scope of its charitable mission,” the letter reads. The full text of the Blackburn-Brooks letter is below: Dear Honorable Koskinen: We write to ask that you review the tax-exempt status of the Clinton Foundation (hereinafter “the Foundation”). The Foundation maintains that “The Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation is a non-profit 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization.” However, recent media reports have revealed that the Foundation failed to report millions of dollars in grants from foreign governments that it accepted while Hillary Clinton was Secretary of State and that it facilitated private business transactions between foreign entities. As a result, given the substantial public interest involved, we feel a prompt review of the Foundation’s tax-exempt status is appropriate to determine whether it is acting within the scope of its charitable mission. First, the Foundation is required to annually file a form 990 series return with the IRS listing foreign contributions. Unfortunately, the Foundation failed to report tens of millions of dollars in foreign government grants between 2010 and 2012. Foundation Acting CEO Maura Pally admitted in an April 26th blog post that “…our error was that government grants were mistakenly combined with other donations.” Former President Clinton recently added that “people re-file their taxes all the time” and that the omissions were “just an accident”. However, the Foundation apparently did report such information prior to 2010. The Foundation’s failure to report the donations is problematic and deserves enhanced scrutiny given Mrs. Clinton’s position as Secretary of State at the time. Second, former President Clinton and Canadian businessman Frank Giustra currently serve as board members of the Foundation. An article titled “The Clintons, a luxury jet and their $100 million donor from Canada” appeared in the Washington Post on May 3rd and details their relationship. The article notes that Giustra has donatedover $100 million dollars to the Foundation since 2005 and that “Clinton has also gained regular transportation, borrowing Giustra’s plane 26 times for foundation business since 2005, including 13 trips in which the two men traveled together.” The Post adds that Giustra “closed some of the biggest deals of his career in the same countries where he traveled with Clinton.” Giustra joined the Foundation’s Board of Directors in 2013. The nexus between the Foundation and Giustra’s business ventures is unusual and raises a question as to whether Foundation activities were used as a pre-text to allow Giustra to gain access to foreign individuals or entities with a stake in his private business interests. Given these widely reported allegations, we believe a review of the appropriateness of the Foundation’s tax-exempt status is necessary. Proceeding under the cloak of philanthropy, the Foundation appears to have facilitated major private business transactions between foreign entities and also failed to report substantial foreign donations during Secretary Clinton’s tenure at the State Department. These actions have created an appearance of impropriety and go behind the Foundation’s pledge to act primarily in furtherance of charitable causes for which it was granted tax-exempt status. Thank you. We look forward to your prompt review.
