House Republicans reach deal to avoid vote on impeaching IRS commissioner

House Republicans reached an agreement late Wednesday to avoid a potentially divisive floor vote on impeaching IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.

The deal scraps the vote on the so-called "privileged" impeachment resolution that had been expected to take place Thursday. Instead, the House Judiciary Committee will consider Koskinen's impeachment, with the IRS boss expected to testify sometime next week.

The agreement makes it unlikely that any vote by the full House to impeach Koskinen will happen until after the November election, if at all. House Republican leadership had balked on moving forward on impeachment proceedings during an election season, arguing that an impeachment vote risked irritating voters. Others said Koskinen deserved a full House Judiciary Committee probe before embarking on the seldom-used impeachment process.

The effort by conservative Republicans flows from the IRS' 2013 admission that for several years, it had targeted Tea Party groups seeking tax exemptions for rigorous examinations.

Conservatives say Koskinen obstructed the House GOP's investigation of the treatment of tea party groups seeking tax exemptions. Koskinen and his Democratic allies say he did nothing wrong and provided Congress with all the information he had and knew about.