Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa, the GOP’s top government watchdog, warns that we have entered a time to “love my country, fear my government.”
“Right now, there’s a reason to fear the IRS and other agencies, including the EPA, who are loaded with people who feel empowered to bend the rules against those they disagree with,” the California Republican explained.
Issa has been investigating the Internal Revenue Service since Lois Lerner’s May 2013 admission that the agency treated conservative groups differently, and his Sept. 17 committee report details the committee’s progress and findings to date.
Issa now believes that President Obama’s criticism of the U.S. Supreme Court in his 2010 State of the Union address sent an important signal to left-wing activists throughout the federal government that “I can work with the president even if it’s inconsistent with my job or the Constitution.”
On another matter, having learned more about the National Security Agency’s data collection since he voted against the Amash amendment on July 24, Issa has taken the unusual step of urging House leadership to reschedule this vote based on what he has since learned. He would now vote with Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash, the freshman congressman well-known for his efforts to prevent questionable surveillance efforts of the NSA.
“I want to be careful not to disclose classified information, but the excuse for this taking is that it costs more to leave it and go back for it than to collect it and maintain it,” Issa said. “And I think the one thing that’s important is that the NSA should never say we’re going to violate people’s Fourth Amendment rights because it is politically or financially expedient.”
In this exclusive interview, Issa updates The Daily Caller on several other committee priorities, including President Obama’s unilateral executive orders, which he now thinks need congressional approval, government waste and excessive spending, gun policies and the coming financial crisis of the U.S. Postal Service.
Watch Part 1:
Watch Part 2:
In a previous segment, Issa delivered a explosive indictment of Secretary Hillary Clinton on the Benghazi matter based on his recent travel to Benghazi.
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