[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 61 (Wednesday, April 20, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H1858-H1859]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      IMPEACHMENT OF JOHN KOSKINEN

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Georgia (Mr. Loudermilk) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. LOUDERMILK. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to speak about the subject 
of justice.
  As we look around the Capitol, there are effigies and paintings. Even 
in this Chamber, there are paintings of George Washington, Thomas 
Jefferson, George Mason, the visionaries of this Nation who envisioned 
a Nation and a government that was committed to liberty, tempered by 
law and justice. Their idea of justice was an equal application of the 
law to everyone, that there weren't two sets of laws--one law for the 
citizen and a different law for the bureaucrat or the elected 
official--but all laws were equally applied to every person.
  I want to tell you the story of two Johns and how the law doesn't 
apply equally. The first John is a Mr. John Yates who, in 2007, was 
fishing for grouper in the Gulf of Mexico when a State conservation 
officer, who had Federal authority, approached his boat and asked to 
inspect his catch. Upon the inspection, he found that there were 72 
grouper that were suspected to be under the minimum size. He ordered 
Mr. Yates to return to shore.
  Now, Mr. Yates understood that this was not a serious crime, it was 
actually a civil action, and he could face a fine or he could lose his 
fishing license, a license issued by the government that he made his 
living with. But Mr. Yates made a mistake. He made a bad decision, 
because he ordered those suspect fish to be thrown back into the water. 
It was a mistake.
  But after being punished for what he did wrong, catching small fish, 
4 years later, in 2011, Mr. Yates was convicted of a Federal offense of 
destroying evidence under the Sarbanes-Oxley statutes. He went to jail. 
He also spent 3 years on a supervised release program for a Federal 
offense of destroying or tampering with evidence.
  When the government wants to seek justice upon a citizen, there are 
over 4,500 criminal statutes and an endless

[[Page H1859]]

number of regulations that can be enforced criminally that they can use 
to find a way to punish you for a deed, regardless of how minor or 
major it was. But that doesn't always apply to the government itself.
  The same year that John Yates was sent to jail for destroying small 
fish, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform issued a 
subpoena to another John, who was then, and is still, the Commissioner 
of the IRS, John Koskinen.
  They demanded that he provide, under subpoena by the force of law, 
all of the documents relating to Lois Lerner and the targeting of 
conservative groups by the IRS. However, instead of responding to that 
subpoena, the IRS destroyed over 24,000 of those documents. But yet, 
today, Mr. Koskinen is still the Commissioner of the IRS.
  There are two types of enforcement of laws in this Nation--one for 
the citizen and one for the government official. You see, the Sarbanes-
Oxley catchall that has been used to successfully prosecute for 
destruction of cars and weapons, even bodies, as well as documents and 
evidence, excludes government agencies.
  The American people deserve justice. But we do have one tool, and 
that is the tool of this Congress to impeach those who violate the 
trust of the American citizens.
  Mr. Speaker, I have cosponsored, with the chairman of the House 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, House Resolution 494, 
which would bring the Commissioner of the IRS before this body on 
charges of impeachment for violating the trust of the American people.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask that that resolution be brought forward and be 
brought forward in this House for a vote so that justice will be served 
and we can once again restore the confidence of the American people 
that there is one definition of justice in this Nation, and that is 
equal application of the law for everyone.

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