Rep. Jason Chaffetz (right), chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform Committee, talks to the committee's ranking member Rep. Elijah Cummings on June 15. House panel votes to censure Koskinen



The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee voted on party lines Wednesday to send a resolution censuring IRS Commissioner John Koskinen to the full House, amid a dispute over whether Koskinen could be stripped of his pension if the resolution is adopted by the House.

The 23-15 vote underscored the partisan clash over the proceedings, part of a larger effort by House conservatives to punish Koskinen for his handling of congressional investigations into the 2013 controversy over the agency’s treatment of political groups applying for tax-exempt status. The conservatives are also pushing for a vote on impeaching Koskinen.


Koskinen, who took over the agency in December 2013, has said he intends to stay on until the end of his term, in November 2017.

The measure approved by the committee Wednesday, in addition to censuring Koskinen, calls for his government pension to be forfeited, although Democratic District of Columbia Del. Eleanor Holmes Norton questioned whether the resolution expressing “the sense of the House” would have any real consequences for his pension.

The resolution says it is the sense of the House that Koskinen “should … be required to forfeit all rights to any annuity for which he is eligible.”

There is no legal consequence to a resolution expressing the sense of the House or Senate, according to the Congressional Research Service. Because the Constitution prohibits bills of attainder, legal scholars have in the past argued that Congress cannot impose a “punishment” or “penalty” on an official without impeachment.

After the markup, the majority office of the Oversight Committee said in a news release that the resolution “requires forfeiture of his government pension and any other federal benefits for which he is eligible.”

Pressed on whether there’s any legal requirement, though, a spokesman for committee Chairman Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) told Politico that the “Chairman believes Koskinen should give up his pension.”

A 1998 CRS report on censure, then under discussion in the debate over impeaching former President Bill Clinton, casts doubt on the force of the measure.

“In addition to the general absence of authority and practice of a legislative institution in the United States to fine persons who are not members of that legislature, the levying of a fine or other such punishment, such as loss of pay, pension or other remuneration or benefits, may directly implicate the Bill of Attainder Clause of the Constitution,” the report said.

During the markup, committee members took to predictable corners as they debated censuring Koskinen for engaging “in a pattern of conduct inconsistent with the trust and confidence placed in him.”

Chaffetz, the author of the resolution and a witness in the House Judiciary Committee’s separate hearings exploring impeachment, urged members to get behind the effort by stressing the time it took for the IRS to notify Congress about thousands of missing emails linked to former IRS official Lois Lerner, the central figure in the 2013 nonprofit-targeting scandal.

“The situation is getting worse, it’s not getting better,” Chaffetz said.

Democrats reiterated Koskinen’s insistence that he believed testimony he gave to Congress about missing emails to be true at the time.

Oversight ranking member Elijah Cummings (D-Md.) called the resolution a “waste of time” and said it undermined the committee’s integrity.

“There was no obstruction of justice — simply didn’t happen,” he said. “After three years and more than $20 million, it is finally time to put these baseless conspiracy theories to rest.”

Koskinen had a duty to preserve all documents in Congress’ investigation, Republicans shot back, arguing that intention doesn’t matter when there’s a subpoena in place.

Censure, which would not require Senate action, is widely seen as an off-ramp for Chaffetz and conservatives who want Koskinen’s head. Full impeachment is a long shot even in the House, where many rank-and-file Republicans are leery of the idea, and the Senate would need a two-thirds vote to convict.

