ICYMI: Rep. Kelly Responds to IRS Targeting of Pro-Israel Groups on Fox Business Network
Rep. Kelly: “It’s not just ‘chilling’ anymore. This is downright freezing.”
WASHINGTON — Representative Mike Kelly (R-PA), a member of the House Ways and Means Committee, appeared on Fox Business Network’s Varney & Co. earlier today to discuss reports that the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) deliberately targeted pro-Israel organizations seeking tax-exempt status for excessive scrutiny. Rep. Kelly sits on the Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, which is currently conducting an investigation into the IRS’s reported discrimination against conservative groups based on their political beliefs.
Highlights from Rep. Kelly’s remarks:
“This is something of an IRS that’s run wild. It wasn’t these couple of rookies out in Cincinnati. This one, we know, comes much closer to home. This gets to the point where it’s not just chilling anymore. This is downright freezing.”
“We are at a point now where have got to fix this. We are losing the faith and confidence of the American people in the government, and if they can’t trust those they’ve elected to go and find out these things, then, my goodness, who can they trust?”
“The American people have the right to know, and we [in Congress] have the responsibility to find out for them. And if we don’t have the stomach and the backbone to do it, then we shouldn’t have run for office. This is not a political agenda on my part or on the part of anybody else I’ve talked to in Congress.”
“It’s very important to point out that the Executive Branch has tremendous powers that can never be abused — they have to be used responsibly. There’s also the machinery of government that allows Congress – your representatives – to go and look at what happened. We have the oversight part of Congress. We have the responsibility to find out and rein [the government] in if it’s out of control. For us to walk away from that responsibility would be absolutely outrageous.”
“The American people need to stop ‘asking’ for good government — they need to start demanding that they get the government that they deserve. … That’s what we’re committed to; I am totally committed to that.”
“The facts will lead us to what happened here. We have to find a way to rein this in. I don’t care how much time it takes. I don’t care what we have to do. … It has to be done; it has to be done now. If not now, if not by us, then when are we going to do it and who’s going to do it?”
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