WASHINGTON — The House is moving toward a showdown vote later this month over whether to impeach IRS chief John Koskinen. But with no chance the Senate would vote to actually remove him from office, Republicans stood divided over the effort’s wisdom in the shadow of this fall’s presidential and congressional elections.
With GOP leaders eager to send lawmakers home to defend their seats by September’s end, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said Wednesday he hoped to reach compromise with the White House and Senate Democrats over legislation temporarily financing the government until Dec. 9 and for combatting the Zika virus.
Republicans said House GOP lawmakers will meet next Thursday to discuss what to do about conservatives’ demands that Koskinen be impeached. Conservatives say Koskinen impeded a congressional investigation of how the IRS improperly treated tea party groups seeking tax exemptions years ago.
Conservatives seeking his impeachment are using a procedure that would let them force such a vote, but they said they’re willing to wait until after next week’s meeting to do so. That means it would come up as soon as two weeks from now.
“It warrants that kind of action for the behavior the IRS and Mr. Koskinen used,” said Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, leader of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, whose members have pressed the effort.
Many Republicans consider it a tough vote they’d rather avoid. They say impeaching Koskinen risks making GOP lawmakers look overly partisan, potentially alienating moderate voters, but voting “no” would anger conservatives whose support they’ll need in November’s elections.
Koskinen was not with the IRS when it conducted intensive investigations of tea party organizations years ago, acts for which it apologized in 2013. He has said the GOP charges against him are baseless.
Koskinen was at the Capitol Wednesday for separate meetings with moderate and conservative House Republicans.
“I don’t think there’s a serious case to be made” against him, Koskinen said in a brief interview.