House conservatives are threatening to force a vote to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, bucking Republican leaders who don't believe his actions warrant such severe consequences.

Leaders of the House Freedom Caucus presented Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) with a choice on Tuesday: Move our impeachment resolution forward in committee on your own accord, or we will likely force the matter by filing a "privileged resolution." In other words, an end run around leadership to the House floor.


They want a commitment from Ryan by the end of the week on a timetable to advance the impeachment measure.

"There is no real desire for a privileged motion to be made" to force an impeachment vote against Koskinen, said Freedom Caucus leader Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.). "However, all procedural options are on the table, and members of the Freedom Caucus are committed to having this issue fully addressed."

Meadows disputed that the standoff was a "threat," calling it instead "just a desire to have a workable committed time frame to take this issue before the American people."

Ryan responded by asking the caucus to hold off on forcing any sudden action, according to a person familiar with a meeting with Ryan Tuesday at which caucus leaders brought up the matter. Republican lawmakers deserve a chance to discuss the matter in conference, Ryan said, adding that any further action on Koskinen should be a “team decision."

Conservatives used the same procedure a year ago to launch a pressure campaign that ultimately drove then-Speaker John Boehner from office.

Republicans say Koskinen should be ousted for his role in the aftermath of the tea party targeting scandal. While Koskinen did not join the agency until the IRS was already reeling from news that it had targeted conservative nonprofit applications for additional scrutiny, conservatives say he was not forthright about what he knew. He told House Oversight Committee investigators in early 2014, for instance, that back-up tapes of IRS official Lois Lerner had been erased. Days later it was learned that the tapes were in a warehouse a few miles away.

Conservatives say Koskinen lied to Congress and failed to turn over subpoenaed documents critical to their investigation, rising to the level of breached duty. Senior Republicans, however, don't believe Koskinen acted with ill intent; incompetence, they argue, is not an impeachable offense.

The IRS asserts that Koskinen was not trying to stonewall or mislead Congress and does not deserve impeachment.

The move is just the latest show-of-force from the influential group of roughly 40 conservatives who've prodded the House Republican Conference further to the right.

The group has proved to be as much of a thorn in Ryan's side as it was for Boehner. The caucus effectively blocked Ryan, a former chairman of the House Budget Committee, from passing a budget, the top priority of his early tenure. Its members were also part of a larger group of conservatives that protested Ryan's legislative response to the Orlando massacre. The speaker scuttled a vote on the matter last week.

In May, caucus leaders Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and Meadows used a similar maneuver to push Ryan to agree to hearings on the impeachment issue. The House Judiciary Committee held two hearings on the matter — even though Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) had privately expressed skepticism at pursuing Koskinen.

The Judiciary panel, however, has expressed no interest or intention in pursuing an impeachment resolution.

The move sets up a tense standoff between the right wing of the party and GOP leaders who don’t believe Koskinen's offense rises to the level of impeachment.

Republican leaders also worry that impeaching Koskinen would unfairly lower the standard for others in the future, potentially entangling other administrative chiefs whose agencies become embroiled in scandal.

Should Ryan and the Judiciary Committee fail to advance the impeachment resolution, the Freedom Caucus will likely file the privileged resolution. A floor vote, however, is unlikely to come before members break for summer recess this week. The House will return in September.

Even Republicans who don't like the idea and don't support it have said privately they will have to vote for impeachment for fear of how it will play back home should they vote the other way.

