Politics

Top GOP senator: IRS must halt Obamacare implementation

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South Dakota Republican Sen. John Thune is calling on the Internal Revenue Service to refrain from implementing any Obamacare regulations drafted under Sarah Hall Ingram, the head of the Internal Revenue Service’s Obamacare office.

Hall Ingraham is the former commissioner of the office responsible for tax-exempt organizations between 2009-2012, during which time the IRS targeted conservative groups seeking tax-exempt status.

In a letter to Attorney General Eric Holder and Treasury Secretary Jack Lew, Thune requested that the IRS halt work on Obamacare until Hall Ingraham is removed from her post or is exonerated by the Department of Justice’s investigation into her participation in the targeting of conservative groups.

“Addressing Ms. Hall Ingram’s involvement with the targeting of conservative groups is one of many answers that are needed before the public’s trust in our government agencies is restored,” Thune wrote in the letter, dated Tuesday.

Thune, the chairman of the Republican Senate Republican Conference, also requested confirmation from the Justice Department as to whether Hall Ingraham is a subject of the investigation into the targeting of conservative groups.

“It is imperative that Americans have answers to questions about the admitted misconduct, which suggests that the IRS may have injected political deference into what should be an impartial review from an impartial agency,” Thune wrote.

“The type of targeting and mismanagement now admitted by the IRS and confirmed by the U.S. Treasury inspector general for tax administration is not to be tolerated, as evidenced by the dismissal of Ms. Hall Ingram’s successor at the IRS, Joseph Grant, who has announced his retirement effective June 3, 2013,” he added.

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