Rep. Graves Grills New IRS Commissioner, IG On Targeting Scandal

Rep. Tom Graves (R-GA-14), member of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, issued the following statement after today’s hearing on the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups and those who appeared to disagree with the Obama Administration:

“The IRS that targeted Americans for their political beliefs is the same IRS that is in place today. The new acting commissioner confirmed that there has been little accountability and that Lois Lerner is still getting paid. It’s an insult to taxpayers. Mr. Werfel needs to clean house. Firing employees doesn’t stop investigators from extracting information about the scandal—it simply means we don’t have to pay the people responsible while we’re waiting for the truth.

“I was also disturbed by the inspector general’s testimony that IRS employees in Cincinnati refused to say who gave the orders to target conservative groups. It seems clear that there were orders from higher up, and the Administration’s initial story that it was just a few rogue employees continues to fall apart with each congressional hearing.”

Watch Rep. Graves question IRS Acting Commissioner Daniel Werfel and Inspector General J. Russell George:

Attached are two videos, Rep. Graves’ first and second round of questioning.