Senate confirms new
IRS chief
December 20, 2013, 10:52 am
By Bernie Becker and Ramsey Cox
The Senate voted 59-36 Friday to
confirm President Obama’s nominee to head the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
GOP Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.),
Susan Collins (Maine), Bob Corker (Tenn.), Orrin Hatch (Utah)
and Rob Portman (Ohio)
voted with Democrats to confirm John
Koskinen.
President Obama announced in
August, almost three months after the IRS acknowledged targeting Tea Party
groups, that he would nominate Koskinen, a former Freddie Mac executive, to
take over the troubled agency.
In a statement, President Obama
thanked the Senate for confirming Koskinen, whom he said has always operated
with "absolute integrity," even when leading other institutions through
"challenging times."
"His strong leadership and
unquestioned expertise make him the right person to lead the IRS," he
said. The president also thanked the current interim IRS chief, Danny Werfel,
who had already told lawmakers he would depart by the end of the year.
In a nomination hearing last week,
Koskinen said that one of his central goals would be to restore both taxpayer
trust in the tax agency and the morale of employees saddled by scandal.
“In every area of the IRS,
taxpayers need to be confident they will be treated fairly, no matter what
their background or affiliations,” Koskinen said. “Public trust is the IRS's
most important and valuable asset.”
The 74-year-old also complimented
the job the agency’s done to prepare for its role in administering Obama’s
healthcare reform law.
Senators from both sides of the
aisle have said that Koskinen, who has taken on other tough government
assignments over recent decades, is more than qualified to take over the
commissioner slot.
But many Republicans resisted the
push from Democrats to confirm him before the holiday break.
With Werfel on the way out,
administration officials have openly worried that, without Senate action, the
IRS could be left without a confirmed commissioner when the tax-filing season
starts early next year. The IRS announced this week that the filing season
would open Jan. 31 — 10 days later than planned.
With that in mind, Finance
Committee Chairman Max Baucus (D-Mont.) and other top Democrats argued it was
crucial to confirm Koskinen before the Senate broke for the year.
“This is a critical time to have
someone with Mr. Koskinen’s expertise in charge of the IRS,” Baucus said in a
statement on Friday.
“We need a confirmed commissioner
to begin winning back the public’s trust and manage the ongoing implementation
of the Affordable Care Act. I am
confident he is up to the task.”
But top Republicans insisted over
and over on Thursday that none of the nominees that Senate Majority Leader
Harry Reid (D-Nev.) was holding out for needed to be handled before the end of
this year.
Minority Leader Mitch McConnell
(R-Ky.) and Minority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said that was especially true
for an agency that has shrouded itself in controversy for most of 2013.
“No,” Cornyn, the top Republican
on the Finance Committee, said Thursday. “Especially when they’re under
investigation.”
Hatch and other GOP members of the
panel have added that they believe a Koskinen vote should have waited until
after the committee releases its bipartisan investigation into the IRS
targeting.
That investigation is now expected
to wrap up early next year, and Koskinen has vowed to help the senators see it
to completion.
Republicans have also blasted new
draft federal rules on how much political activity tax-exempt groups can engage
in, though Koskinen has cautioned that he had no role in crafting the
regulations.
Top IRS officials admitted in May
that they had inappropriately singled out Tea Party groups, setting off a
firestorm that dominated Washington.
The White House and top
congressional Democrats quickly said that top agency officials would need to be
held accountable, with several either losing their job or heading to
retirement.
But Democrats have also insisted
that, after more than half a year of investigation, there is no evidence that
anyone outside the IRS played any role in the targeting, or that there was
political motivation behind it.
Democrats have also criticized the
inspector general who outlined the targeting.
But McConnell and other
Republicans have suggested that Democrats are trying to sweep the controversy
under the rug. House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) has
sharply criticized the FBI’s investigation into the matter in recent weeks.
The Senate also voted 56-36 Friday
to end debate on the nomination of Brian Davis to be U.S. district judge for the
District of Florida. His nomination has been pending for nearly two years.
Internal Revenue Service (IRS)
John A. Koskinen
is the commissioner nominee for the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS), and a director at the AES Corporation.
Note: Charles O. Rossotti
was the commissioner for the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS), is the chairman for the AES Corporation, a director at Atlantic
Council of the United States
(think tank), and a director at Booz
Allen Hamilton.
Open
Society Foundations was a funder for the Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank).
George
Soros is the founder & chairman for the Open Society Foundations, and the chairman for the Foundation to Promote Open Society.
Foundation
to Promote Open Society was a funder for the Aspen Institute (think tank).
Henry A. Kissinger is a director at the
Atlantic Council of the United
States (think tank), a member of the Bohemian Club, a director at the
American Friends of Bilderberg (think tank), was a lifetime trustee at
the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a 2008 Bilderberg conference
participant (think tank).
Belizean_Grove
is the equivalent to the male-only social group, the Bohemian Club.
Henrietta
Holsman Fore is a member of the Belizean
Grove, and a trustee at the Aspen
Institute (think tank).
Deborah L.
Wince-Smith is a member of the Belizean
Grove, and was a member of the IRS
Oversight Board.
IRS Oversight
Board is a citizen’s board for the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS).
James S.
Crown is a trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and a member
of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Lester Crown
was a lifetime trustee at the Aspen Institute (think tank), and is a
member of the Commercial Club of Chicago.
Commercial Club of Chicago,
Members Directory A-Z (Past Research)
Tuesday, December 17, 2013
Robert S. Osborne
is a member of the Commercial Club of Chicago, and the EVP & general
counsel for Booz Allen Hamilton.
Edward Snowden was
an employee at Booz Allen Hamilton,
and leaked information about the National
Security Agency (NSA).
Booz Allen
Hamilton is a contractor for the National
Security Agency (NSA).
Charles O. Rossotti
is a director at Booz Allen Hamilton,
the chairman for the AES Corporation,
a director at Atlantic Council of the United States
(think tank), and was the commissioner for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
John A. Koskinen
is a director at the AES Corporation,
and the commissioner nominee for the Internal
Revenue Service (IRS).
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