July 2013

Washington, DC—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued the following statement in response to House Republicans' decision to pull three "Government Abuse Week" bills from the suspension calendar because they lacked the votes to pass them:

Washington, DC —Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, sent a letter to Chairman Issa objecting to his use of selective transcript excerpts to accuse the IRS of targeting conservative groups by referring them to the Review of Operations Unit (ROO) after they were approved for tax-exempt status.

Washington, D.C.—Today, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings, Ranking Member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, issued the following statement after the Oversight Committee voted on a partisan basis to pass H.R. 2748, the Postal Reform Act of 2013, which was introduced by Committee Chairman Darrell Issa::

Eight weeks ago, on May 22, we met in this room to hear testimony about a report from the Inspector General about the IRS's review of groups applying for tax exempt status. At the time, there was justifiable outrage, including from me, about the inappropriate search terms used to screen these groups and the unacceptable delays they endured.

Washington, D.C.—At a hearing today before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Acting IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel testified that Inspector General J. Russell George personally intervened to block the IRS from turning over documents relating to progressive or left-leaning groups that received treatment similar to Tea Party applicants for tax exempt status.