WASHINGTON -- A House vote on the impeachment of Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen has been delayed by a last-minute deal between GOP leaders and the hard-line conservative members who could have forced the vote on Thursday.
Koskinen is expected to appear next week before the House Judiciary Committee, which is examining impeachment articles related to the destruction of emails subpoenaed by Congress, after declining to testify before the panel earlier this year. Because the committee has not advanced the impeachment proceedings, members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus filed a special motion to bring the matter directly to the House floor.
The caucus declared victory in a statement late Wednesday, saying the hearing would "give every American the opportunity to hear John Koskinen answer under oath why he misled Congress, allowed evidence pertinent to an investigation to be destroyed, and defied Congressional subpoenas and preservation orders."
"It will also remove any lingering excuses for those who have been hesitant to proceed with this course of action," the statement read.
A spokesman for the Judiciary Committee confirmed next week's hearing. Lawyers for Koskinen did not immediately reply to a message seeking comment. He has strongly denied any wrongdoing, and his lawyers wrote in a Sept. 8 letter to Judiciary Committee leaders that he would be willing to appear before the panel and answer questions under oath.
"All that we seek is the use of traditional processes and standards," wrote the lawyers from the WilmerHale firm.
The impeachment vote that had been set for Thursday threatened to pit the Freedom Caucus and their desire to hold President Barack Obama's administration to account against not only the White House and congressional Democrats but also moderate Republicans and a broader desire for "regular order" -- in which the House takes action through the relevant committees, empowering their chairmen to decide what measures are sent to the floor.
Rep. John Fleming, R-La., the co-sponsor of the impeachment resolution, said late Wednesday that he was pleased there would be a "formal impeachment hearing" for Koskinen but reserved the right to force a floor vote in the future: "[I]f regular order is not followed through with we still reserve the right to bring up a privileged resolution again in November and go directly to a vote."
IRS spokesman Matthew Leas said the agency was in touch with the Judiciary Committee on Thursday about the timing of the hearing, which he said the agency understood to be "a preliminary hearing rather than a formal impeachment proceeding."
There is still a possibility that the committee process could be short-circuited: The other co-sponsor, Rep. Tim Huelskamp, R-Kan., told reporters Thursday that he still planned to call up a floor vote next week. "It only takes one," he said, according to Roll Call.
Huelskamp recently lost his bid for renomination and will leave Congress in January, and he has been critical of House GOP leaders for not intervening on his behalf in the Republican primary. If he forces a vote, it appears he would be doing it on his own behalf.
House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., told reporters that he understood the agreement to be that the hearing would take place instead of a vote before November. He praised that agreement Thursday: "The members worked the differences out with themselves. ... [Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.] worked this out with the members who were involved. That's how I like things getting handled here."
A Section on 09/16/2016