GOP Lawmakers Oppose Bonuses For IRS Division That Targeted Groups

House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Mich.)

A group of House conservatives is pushing to cut off bonuses for the Internal Revenue Service division that targeted advocacy groups during the past two election cycles based on their names and policy positions.

Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) and six other Republican lawmakers wrote to House Appropriations Committee Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.) on April 2 requesting that the next general spending bill prohibit bonuses to the IRS’s Tax-Exempt Tax-Exempt and Government Entities Division, which carried out the agency’s screening efforts.

The lawmakers also criticized an IRS decision in February to reinstate performance awards for IRS employees. Agency-wide payouts for work in fiscal 2013 are expected to total $62.5 million in 2014, compared to $89.1 million for fiscal 2012, according to the IRS.
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