[House Report 113-545]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]


113th Congress                                                   Report
                        HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
 2d Session                                                     113-545

======================================================================

 
      DIRECTING THE ATTORNEY GENERAL TO TRANSMIT TO THE HOUSE OF 
     REPRESENTATIVES COPIES OF ANY EMAILS IN THE POSSESSION OF THE 
   DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE THAT WERE TRANSMITTED TO OR FROM THE EMAIL 
  ACCOUNT(S) OF FORMER INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE EXEMPT ORGANIZATIONS 
   DIVISION DIRECTOR LOIS LERNER BETWEEN JANUARY 2009 AND APRIL 2011

                                _______
                                

   July 22, 2014.--Referred to the House Calendar and ordered to be 
                                printed

                                _______
                                

   Mr. Goodlatte, from the Committee on the Judiciary, submitted the 
                               following

                              R E P O R T

                       [To accompany H. Res. 646]

    The Committee on the Judiciary, to whom was referred the 
resolution (H. Res. 646) directing the Attorney General to 
transmit to the House of Representatives copies of any emails 
in the possession of the Department of Justice that were 
transmitted to or from the email account(s) of former Internal 
Revenue Service Exempt Organizations Division Director Lois 
Lerner between January 2009 and April 2011, having considered 
the same, report without amendment and without recommendation.

                                CONTENTS

                                                                   Page
Purpose and Summary..............................................     1
Background and Need for the Legislation..........................     2
Hearings.........................................................     3
Committee Consideration..........................................     3
Committee Votes..................................................     3
Committee Oversight Findings.....................................     3
Duplication of Federal Programs..................................     3
Disclosure of Directed Rule Makings..............................     3
Performance Goals and Objectives.................................     3
Advisory on Earmarks.............................................     4
Section-by-Section Analysis......................................     4

                          Purpose and Summary

    H. Res. 646 directs the Attorney General to transmit to the 
House of Representatives copies of any emails in the possession 
of the Department of Justice that were transmitted to or from 
the email account(s) of former Internal Revenue Service Exempt 
Organizations Division Director Lois Lerner between January 
2009 and April 2011.

                Background and Need for the Legislation

    On May 10, 2013, former IRS Exempt Organizations Division 
Director Lois Lerner admitted, during an American Bar 
Association meeting, that some organizations seeking tax-exempt 
status under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code 
were targeted for additional scrutiny by the IRS. Groups 
targeted for this additional scrutiny included those with names 
that included certain political terms like ``Tea Party,'' 
``Patriots,'' or ``Progressive.'' Several Congressional 
Committees, including the Committee on Ways and Means and the 
Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, opened 
investigations into this matter.
    On May 15, 2013, Attorney General Eric H. Holder, Jr., 
testified before the Judiciary Committee that the Justice 
Department would conduct a ``dispassionate'' investigation into 
the IRS's admittedly inappropriate treatment of certain groups, 
and that the Department would ``go wherever the facts lead 
us.''
    On June 11, 2014, FBI Director James Comey testified before 
the Judiciary Committee. In response to questions from Chairman 
Goodlatte, Director Comey indicated that the FBI is currently 
conducting ``a very active investigation'' of the IRS targeting 
matter. The Director stated that ``There is an investigation 
because there was a reasonable basis to believe that crimes had 
been committed . . . so, we are conducting that 
investigation.''
    The Committee investigations, as well as a lawsuit by the 
organization Judicial Watch, led to the revelation of emails 
between Lois Lerner and the Justice Department's Election 
Crimes branch. The emails show that the IRS in October 2010 
sent 1.1 million pages of nonprofit tax-return data--including 
confidential taxpayer information--to the FBI, potentially in 
violation of Federal law. In April 2014, emails were revealed 
showing that Ms. Lerner was in contact with the Justice 
Department in May 2013 about whether tax-exempt groups could be 
criminally prosecuted for ``lying'' about political activity. 
Congressional investigators then sought any additional emails 
in possession of the IRS pertaining to the contact between Ms. 
Lerner and the Justice Department.
    On June 13, 2014, the IRS told investigators that it lost 
an untold number of Lois Lerner's emails dated from January 1, 
2009 to April 2011. While Congressional investigators were in 
possession of some Lerner emails from this time period, those 
only include emails written to or from other IRS employees. Any 
emails written to or from Lerner with people outside the IRS, 
including personnel at the Department of Justice, were, 
according to the IRS, lost in the 2011 hard drive crash. The 
IRS provided Congress with contemporaneous emails showing that 
Lerner sought assistance from IT employees--including forensic 
lab technicians--but that her data was unrecoverable.
    On May 7, 2014, the House passed H. Res. 565, a resolution 
calling upon the Attorney General to appoint a Special Counsel 
to investigate the IRS's targeting of certain groups.
    On June 25, 2014, Congressman Steve Stockman (R-TX) 
introduced H. Res. 646, which directs the Attorney General to 
transmit to the House of Representatives copies of any emails 
in the possession of the Department of Justice that were 
transmitted to or from the email account(s) of former Internal 
Revenue Service Exempt Organizations Division Director Lois 
Lerner between January 2009 and April 2011.

                                Hearings

    The Committee on the Judiciary held no hearings on H. Res. 
646.

                        Committee Consideration

    On July 16, 2014, the Committee met in open session and 
ordered the resolution H. Res. 646 reported without 
recommendation and without amendment, by voice vote, a quorum 
being present.

                            Committee Votes

    In compliance with clause 3(b) of rule XIII of the Rules of 
the House of Representatives, the Committee advises that there 
were no recorded votes during the Committee's consideration of 
H. Res. 646.

                      Committee Oversight Findings

    In compliance with clause 3(c)(1) of rule XIII of the Rules 
of the House of Representatives, the Committee advises that the 
findings and recommendations of the Committee, based on 
oversight activities under clause 2(b)(1) of rule X of the 
Rules of the House of Representatives, are incorporated in the 
descriptive portions of this report.

                    Duplication of Federal Programs

    No provision of H. Res. 646 establishes or reauthorizes a 
program of the Federal Government known to be duplicative of 
another Federal program, a program that was included in any 
report from the Government Accountability Office to Congress 
pursuant to section 21 of Public Law No. 111-139, or a program 
related to a program identified in the most recent Catalog of 
Federal Domestic Assistance.

                  Disclosure of Directed Rule Makings

    The Committee estimates that H. Res. 646 specifically 
directs to be completed no specific rule makings within the 
meaning of 5 U.S.C. Sec. 551.

                    Performance Goals and Objectives

    The Committee states that pursuant to clause 3(c)(4) of 
rule XIII of the Rules of the House of Representatives, H. Res. 
646 directs the Attorney General to transmit to the House of 
Representatives copies of any emails in the possession of the 
Department of Justice that were transmitted to or from the 
email account(s) of former Internal Revenue Service Exempt 
Organizations Division Director Lois Lerner between January 
2009 and April 2011.

                          Advisory on Earmarks

    In accordance with clause 9 of rule XXI of the Rules of the 
House of Representatives, H. Res. 646 does not contain any 
congressional earmarks, limited tax benefits, or limited tariff 
benefits as defined in clause 9(e), 9(f), or 9(g) of Rule XXI.

                      Section-by-Section Analysis

    The following discussion describes the resolution as 
reported by the Committee.
    H. Res. 646 directs the Attorney General to transmit to the 
House of Representatives copies of any emails in the possession 
of the Department of Justice that were transmitted to or from 
the email account(s) of former Internal Revenue Service Exempt 
Organizations Division Director Lois Lerner between January 
2009 and April 2011.

                                  
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