•HRES 565 IH 
Means, to which he replied, ‘‘I can give you assurances 
. . . [t]here is absolutely no targeting.’’; 
Whereas on April 26, 2012, IRS Exempt Organizations Di-
rector Lois G. Lerner informed the House Committee on 
Oversight and Government Reform that information re-
quests were done in ‘‘the ordinary course of the applica-
tion process’’; 
Whereas on May 4, 2012, IRS Exempt Organizations Direc-
tor Lois G. Lerner provided to the House Committee on 
Oversight and Government Reform specific justification 
for the IRS’s information requests; 
Whereas prior to the November 2012 election, the IRS pro-
vided 31 applications for tax-exempt status to the inves-
tigative website ProPublica, all of which were from con-
servative groups and nine of which had not yet been ap-
proved by the IRS, and Federal law prohibits public dis-
closure of application materials until after the application 
has been approved; 
Whereas the initial ‘‘test’’ cases developed by the IRS were 
applications filed by conservative-oriented Tea Party or-
ganizations; 
Whereas the IRS determined, by way of informal, internal re-
view, that 75 percent of the affected applications for 
501(c)(4) status were filed by conservative-oriented orga-
nizations; 
Whereas on January 24, 2013, Lois G. Lerner e-mailed col-
leagues about Organizing for Action, a tax-exempt orga-
nization formed as an offshoot of President Barack 
Obama’s election campaign, writing: ‘‘Maybe I can get 
the DC office job!’’; 
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•HRES 565 IH 
Whereas on May 8, 2013, Richard Pilger, Director of the 
Election Crimes Branch of the Department of Justice’s 
Public Integrity Section, spoke to Lois G. Lerner about 
potential prosecution for false statements about political 
campaign intervention made by tax-exempt applicants; 
Whereas on May 10, 2013, IRS Exempt Organizations Direc-
tor Lois G. Lerner apologized for the IRS’s targeting of 
conservative tax-exempt applicants during a speech at an 
event organized by the American Bar Association; 
Whereas the Ways and Means Committee determined that, of 
the 298 applications delayed and set aside for extra scru-
tiny by the IRS, 83 percent were from right-leaning orga-
nizations; 
Whereas the Ways and Means Committee also determined 
that, as of Lois G. Lerner’s May 10, 2013 apology, only 
45 percent of the right-leaning groups set aside for extra 
scrutiny had been approved, while 70 percent of left-lean-
ing groups and 100 percent of the groups with ‘‘progres-
sive’’ names had been approved; 
Whereas the Ways and Means Committee has also deter-
mined that, of the groups that were inappropriately sub-
ject to demands to divulge confidential donors, 89 per-
cent were right-leaning; 
Whereas on May 15, 2013, Attorney General Holder testified 
before the Judiciary Committee that the Department of 
Justice would conduct a ‘‘dispassionate’’ investigation 
into the IRS matter, and ‘‘[t]his will not be about parties 
. . . this will not be about ideological persuasions . . . 
anybody who has broken the law will be held account-
able’’; 
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•HRES 565 IH 
Whereas on May 15, 2013, President Barack Obama called 
the IRS’s targeting ‘‘inexcusable’’ and promised that he 
would ‘‘not tolerate this kind of behavior in any agency, 
but especially in the IRS, given the power that it has and 
the reach that it has into all of our lives’’; 
Whereas the Attorney General has stated that the Depart-
ment of Justice’s investigation involves components from 
the Civil Rights Division and the Public Integrity Sec-
tion; 
Whereas the Civil Rights Division of the Department of Jus-
tice has a history of politicization, as evident in the re-
port by the Department of Justice Office of Inspector 
General entitled, ‘‘A Review of the Operations of the Vot-
ing Rights Section of the Civil Rights Division’’; 
Whereas Barbara Bosserman, a trial attorney in the Civil 
Rights Division who in the past several years has contrib-
uted nearly $7,000 to the Democratic National Com-
mittee and President Barack Obama’s political cam-
paigns, is playing a leading role in the Department of 
Justice’s investigation; 
Whereas the Public Integrity Section communicated with the 
IRS about the potential prosecution of tax-exempt appli-
cants; 
Whereas on December 5, 2013, President Barack Obama de-
clared in a national television interview that the IRS’s 
targeting of conservative tax-exempt applicants was 
caused by a ‘‘bureaucratic’’ ‘‘list’’ by employees in ‘‘an 
office in Cincinnati’’; 
Whereas on April 9, 2014, the House Committee on Ways 
and Means referred Lois G. Lerner to the Department of 
Justice for criminal prosecution; 
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•HRES 565 IH 
Whereas the House Committee on Ways and Means found 
that Lois G. Lerner used her position to improperly influ-
ence agency action against conservative tax-exempt orga-
nizations, denying these groups due process and equal 
protection rights as guaranteed by the United States 
Constitution, in apparent violation of section 242 of title 
18, United States Code; 
Whereas the House Committee on Ways and Means found 
that Lois G. Lerner targeted Crossroads Grassroots Pol-
icy Strategies while ignoring similar liberal-leaning tax- 
exempt applicants; 
Whereas the House Committee on Ways and Means found 
that Lois G. Lerner impeded official investigations by 
knowingly providing misleading statements to the Treas-
ury Inspector General for Tax Administration, in appar-
ent violation of section 1001 of title 18, United States 
Code; 
Whereas the House Committee on Ways and Means found 
that Lois G. Lerner may have disclosed confidential tax-
payer information, in apparent violation of section 6103 
of the Internal Revenue Code; 
Whereas former Department of Justice officials have testified 
before a subcommittee of the House Committee on Over-
sight and Government Reform that the circumstances of 
the Administration’s investigation of the IRS’s targeting 
of conservative tax-exempt applicants warrant the ap-
pointment of a special counsel; 
Whereas Department of Justice regulations counsel attorneys 
to avoid the ‘‘appearance of a conflict of interest likely 
to affect the public perception of the integrity of the in-
vestigation or prosecution’’; 
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•HRES 565 IH 
Whereas since May 15, 2013, the Department of Justice and 
the Federal Bureau of Investigation have refused to co-
operate with congressional oversight of the Administra-
tion’s investigation of the IRS’s targeting of conservative 
tax-exempt applicants; 
Whereas on January 13, 2014, unnamed officials at the De-
partment of Justice leaked to the media that no criminal 
charges would be appropriate for IRS officials who en-
gaged in the targeting activity, which undermined the in-
tegrity of the Department of Justice’s investigation; 
Whereas on February 2, 2014, President Barack Obama 
stated publicly that there was ‘‘not even a smidgen of 
corruption’’ in connection with the IRS targeting activity; 
Whereas on April 16, 2014, electronic mail communications 
between the Department of Justice and the IRS were re-
leased showing that the Department of Justice considered 
prosecuting conservative nonprofit groups for engaging in 
political activity that is legal under Federal law, which 
damaged the integrity of the Department and under-
mined its investigation; and 
Whereas the Code of Federal Regulations requires the Attor-
ney General to appoint a Special Counsel when he or she 
determines— 
(1) that criminal investigation of a person or matter 
is warranted, 
(2) that investigation or prosecution of that person 
or matter by a United States Attorney’s Office or liti-
gating Division of the Department of Justice would 
present a conflict of interest for the Department or other 
extraordinary circumstances, and 
(3) that under the circumstances, it would be in the 
public interest to appoint an outside Special Counsel to 
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•HRES 565 IH 
assume responsibility for the matter: Now, therefore, be 
it 
Resolved, That it is the sense of the House of Rep-
resentatives that— 
(1) the statements and actions of the IRS, the 
Department of Justice, and the Obama Administra-
tion in connection with this matter have served to 
undermine the Department of Justice’s investiga-
tion; 
(2) the Administration’s efforts to undermine 
the investigation, and the appointment of a person 
who has donated almost seven thousand dollars to 
President Obama and the Democratic National 
Committee in a lead investigative role, have created 
a conflict of interest for the Department of Justice 
that warrants removal of the investigation from the 
normal processes of the Department of Justice; 
(3) further investigation of the matter is war-
ranted due to the apparent criminal activity by Lois 
G. Lerner, and the ongoing disclosure of internal 
communications showing potentially unlawful con-
duct by Executive Branch personnel; 
(4) given the Department’s conflict of interest, 
as well as the strong public interest in ensuring that 
public officials who inappropriately targeted Amer-
ican citizens for exercising their right to free expres-
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•HRES 565 IH 
sion are held accountable, appointment of a Special 
Counsel would be in the public interest; and 
(5) Attorney General Holder should appoint a 
Special Counsel, without further delay, to investigate 
the IRS’s targeting of conservative nonprofit advo-
cacy groups. 
Æ 
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