House Will Hold Vote on Whether to Impeach IRS Chief, Ryan Says

Speaker Paul Ryan said Wednesday the House will vote on whether to impeach Internal Revenue Service Commissioner John Koskinen, and he indicated members won’t be pressured to vote one way or the other.

The entire House Republican conference is to meet behind closed doors next week to discuss the issue, but conservatives led by Representative John Fleming of Louisiana say the process of introducing a “privileged resolution” to force the vote will begin before that.

Ryan, who has previously hedged on whether the House should take such action, said on Wednesday that he won’t stop it. The House hasn’t impeached a cabinet official since the mid-1870s and has never impeached an executive branch official, such as Koskinen, who doesn’t hold cabinet rank. Any House action would be largely symbolic, because the effort is expected to be blocked in the Senate if it passes the House.

“This is a privileged resolution. So it will come to the floor,” said Ryan during a news conference. He said there are members on both sides of the issue. “This is something where Congress is going to work its will.”

Republicans remain angry at Koskinen, who they accuse of impeding an investigation into whether the tax agency improperly targeted conservative non-profits. Their allegations include failing to prevent the IRS from destroying evidence and providing false and misleading information to Congress. Koskinen and the Treasury Department have said the allegations are meritless.