Cummings Responds to Bipartisan Senate Report on IRS

Cummings Responds to Bipartisan Senate Report on IRS

Washington, DC (Aug. 6, 2015)—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued the following statement in response to the bipartisan report issued by the Senate Finance Committee on its investigation of the IRS:

"After more than $20 million, two Inspector General reports, two years of Congressional investigations, and now a bipartisan Senate report, the fundamental facts remain the same: while there was certainly mismanagement at the IRS, there is still no evidence that the White House ever directed the IRS to target conservative groups, as Republicans have claimed for years."

This bipartisan Senate report also confirms what Democrats have long stated: that the Inspector General's May 2013 report left out critical information by failing to include evidence that progressive groups were singled out for scrutiny in the same manner as conservative groups.

The report found that "some left-leaning applicants experienced lengthy processing delays and inappropriate and burdensome requests for information."

The report also stated that "[t]he Committee found several examples of ACORN-affiliated and Emerge applicants that were delayed for over three years."

The Senate Finance Committee reached its bipartisan conclusions based on "the large volume of information" it received with "a high degree of confidence in the accuracy of the conclusions reached" during its investigation.