FREE SPEECH MUZZLED? GOP urges IRS boss to scrap controversial rule

Published February 06, 2014

FoxNews.com

Republican congressional leaders are calling on the newly appointed IRS commissioner to scrap a new rule they claim would target politically active groups seeking tax-exempt status -- including the very same conservative groups the agency is accused of harassing.

"This proposed rule is an affront to free speech itself," the lawmakers wrote in a letter to IRS Commissioner John Koskinen.

The letter -- signed by House Speaker John Boehner, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and others -- marks the most coordinated effort yet by the GOP to fight the rule change, first proposed in November.

The letter comes as more conservative groups testified Thursday about IRS targeting, before a House oversight subcommittee.

"They were harassed at the hands of their very government," Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said.

The central complaint over the proposed rule is that it would effectively codify the kind of scrutiny that Tea Party and other groups were subjected to before the 2010 and 2012 elections. Those groups had been applying for what's known as 501(c)(4) tax-exempt status, as "social welfare" organizations. The rule change would limit the kinds of political activity that "social welfare" groups -- of any ideological leaning -- could engage in.

The proposal was described by the administration as a way to clarify the rules, and create "clear-cut definitions of political activity."

But Republicans now say the rule change would allow political targeting to continue unabated.

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FREE SPEECH MUZZLED? GOP urges IRS boss to scrap controversial rule