Congressman Sander Levin, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, called for Steven Miller and Lois Lerner to step down from the Internal Revenue Service in light of the ongoing scandal in which the agency admitted to targeting conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status for extra scrutiny.
Miller is the acting IRS commissioner, and Lerner is director of the group that oversees tax-exempt groups, which is at the center of the scandal.
A report released Tuesday by the IRS inspector general blamed “ineffective management” for the “inappropriate” targeting. Questions remain on how far up the chain of command the scandal went and who knew what when.
“Based on the report of the Inspector General I think there’s reason to believe that Miller should be released of his responsibilities, as well as Lerner,” said Rep. Levin of Michigan on Wednesday’s The Daily Rundown. “There was such total mismanagement.’
Levin continued on to echo comments made by President Obama, calling the incident “inexcusable.”
“I think there was a failure of oversight by them and there was a failure when they got more information to come and tell us that,” he said. “The president called this inexcusable and outrageous and I think that’s true.”
The House Ways and Means Committee planned to hold a hearing on Friday to examine the IRS scandal.
Xuan Thai