On the recordMay 7, 2014
I thank the gentleman from Maryland for yielding. Mr. Speaker, in response to those recent allegations, I do want to point out that our committee did look at the question of political motivation in selecting tax exemption applications. We asked the inspector general, Russell George, on May 17, 2013, in a hearing before the Ways and Means Committee: ``Did you find any evidence of political motivation in the selection of tax-exempt applications?'' The inspector general who investigated this case testified in response: ``We did not, sir.'' Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this contempt resolution. What began as a necessary and compelling bipartisan investigation into the targeting of American citizens by the Internal Revenue Service has now deteriorated into the very sort of dangerous and careless government overreaching that our committee was set out to investigate in the first place.…
