IRS Demanded Content of Prayers from Pro-Life Group
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CBN News
Senate Republicans are still looking for answers in the IRS targeting scandal.
At a hearing Wednesday, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas,
asked IRS Commissioner John Koskinen why the tax agency would demand
that an Iowa prolife group tell them about the content of their prayers.
Koskinen admitted the request was "totally inappropriate," saying he has apologized for the IRS.
The agency also made every member of that Iowa group promise not to picket Planned Parenthood.
"We should not have a federal government agency that
becomes an intimidator, going after citizens, going after citizen
groups, violating their First Amendment rights," Cruz said.
Overall, the IRS targeted dozens of conservative and
Tea Party groups, blocking their tax-exempt status before the 2010 and
2012 elections.
Jay Sekulow, chief counsel with the American Center
for Law and Justice, told the committee the IRS still hasn't acted in
some cases.
"I represent 38 groups that were targeted by the
IRS. That targeting, by the way, has not resulted in an end of all the
cases. I've got two clients, one of which has been waiting six years for
a determination from the Internal Revenue Service," Sekulow said.
Meanwhile, Cruz is calling for the IRS to be
abolished, saying it has become "the embodiment of what's wrong with
government and what's wrong with Washington."
Cruz and Sekulow weren't the only ones who scolded
the IRS Wednesday. A U.S. District Court judge in Washington threatened
to hold IRS officials in contempt for not following an order to produce
documents in the scandal.
Topic: IRS Demanded Content of Prayers from Pro-Life Group
