Republican lawmakers on Sunday called for a full investigation of actions by the Internal Revenue Service, which apologized Friday for singling out Tea Party groups and other conservative organizations for heightened scrutiny in applications for tax-exempt status.
Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said the revelations eroded trust in the government and accused the I.R.S. of not being forthcoming with Congress about the episode.
“This is truly outrageous,” she said on CNN’s State of the Union. “It is absolutely chilling that the I.R.S. was singling out conservative groups for extra review. And I think that it’s very disappointing that the president hasn’t personally condemned this and spoken out.”
Lois Lerner, the director of the I.R.S. division that oversees tax-exempt groups, acknowledged on Friday that the agency had singled out nonprofit applicants with the terms “Tea Party” or “patriots” in their titles in an effort to respond to a surge in applications for tax-exempt status from 2010 to 2012. She described it as a bureaucratic mistake carried out by low-level agency employees.
Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, noted that the I.R.S. was run independently of White House oversight. The checks were carried out while the I.R.S. was under the directorship of Douglas H. Shulman, who was appointed by President George W. Bush. He left the agency in November at the end of his six-year term.
Ms. Collins questioned the way the I.R.S. had handled the issue. “If it had been just a small group of employees, then you would think that the high-level I.R.S. supervisors would have rushed to make this public, fired the employees involved and apologized to the American people and informed Congress,” she said. “None of that happened in a timely way.”
Representative Mike Rogers, Republican of Michigan and the House Intelligence Committee chairman, called on Sunday for “a full investigation.”
“I don’t care if you’re a conservative, a liberal, a Democrat or a Republican, this should send a chill up your spine,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “This is something that we cannot let stand.”
Senator Susan Collins, Republican of Maine, said the revelations eroded trust in the government and accused the I.R.S. of not being forthcoming with Congress about the episode.
“This is truly outrageous,” she said on CNN’s State of the Union. “It is absolutely chilling that the I.R.S. was singling out conservative groups for extra review. And I think that it’s very disappointing that the president hasn’t personally condemned this and spoken out.”
Lois Lerner, the director of the I.R.S. division that oversees tax-exempt groups, acknowledged on Friday that the agency had singled out nonprofit applicants with the terms “Tea Party” or “patriots” in their titles in an effort to respond to a surge in applications for tax-exempt status from 2010 to 2012. She described it as a bureaucratic mistake carried out by low-level agency employees.
Jay Carney, the White House press secretary, noted that the I.R.S. was run independently of White House oversight. The checks were carried out while the I.R.S. was under the directorship of Douglas H. Shulman, who was appointed by President George W. Bush. He left the agency in November at the end of his six-year term.
Ms. Collins questioned the way the I.R.S. had handled the issue. “If it had been just a small group of employees, then you would think that the high-level I.R.S. supervisors would have rushed to make this public, fired the employees involved and apologized to the American people and informed Congress,” she said. “None of that happened in a timely way.”
Representative Mike Rogers, Republican of Michigan and the House Intelligence Committee chairman, called on Sunday for “a full investigation.”
“I don’t care if you’re a conservative, a liberal, a Democrat or a Republican, this should send a chill up your spine,” he said on “Fox News Sunday.” “This is something that we cannot let stand.”