Casey, Toomey Comment on IRS Hearing

Pennsylvania's Sen. Bob Casey (D) and Sen. Pat Toomey (R) both participated in Wednesday's hearing about IRS scrutinty of conservative groups applying for tax-exempt status.

Both men released statements regarding the event.

Witnesses before the Senate Finance Committee were:

• Steven T. Miller, Acting Commissioner, Internal Revenue Service
• Russell George, Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, United States Department of the Treasury
• Douglas Shulman, former IRS Commissioner

Casey, chairman of the Finance Subcommittee on Fiscal Responsibility and Economic Growth, said:

 “Pennsylvanians and Americans across the country deserve to know that the IRS and all government agencies do their jobs without prejudice or political agenda.  I intend to hold accountable those responsible for any breach of the taxpayer’s trust.  Today, as a member of the Senate Finance Committee, I directly questioned top IRS officials about what took place, who was responsible and what steps are being taken to ensure this never happens again.  It is apparent that there were stunning issues of mismanagement at the IRS.  Frankly, I was struck by the lack of responsibility and contrition on the part of those testifying today before the Committee.  I intend to work with Chairman Baucus and members the Committee on both sides of the aisle to ensure that the American people get the answers they deserve and every appropriate step is taken to rebuild and restore public confidence in this institution.”

At the conclusion of his questioning at the hearing, Toomey said:

 “If we believe that we still don’t even know who was responsible for the decision to resume a completely inappropriate activity that had been ceased, I don’t know how we could come to the conclusion that this is not politically motivated. We don’t even know who made the decision. How do we know what motivated that decision? On the face of it, it certainly appears that it is completely politically motivated. To the best of my knowledge, there was no criteria identifying left-of-center organizations as deserving special scrutiny – those using words like ‘progressive’ or ‘ninety-nine percent’ or ‘Occupy Wall Street’ – none of that was ever part of the criteria. So, given the obvious one-sided nature of this criteria and the fact that we still don’t know, Mr. Chairman, I would just suggest that what we need to do is bring before this committee some people who might actually know the answers to these questions, about who actually decided this was a good idea . . .  It’s frustrating to have no answers for a hearing like this.”