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Susan Collins on Government Reform

Republican Jr Senator (ME)

 


Outrageous for IRS to target Tea Party groups

Q: An inspector general's report will show an IRS official has said, yes, there was extra scrutiny of groups with the words "Tea Party" or "patriot" in it. Your take?

COLLINS: This is truly outrageous. And it contributes to the profound distrust that the American people have in government. It is absolutely chilling that the IRS was singling out conservative groups for extra review. And I think that it's very disappointing that the president hasn't personally condemned this and spoken out. His spokesman has said it should be investigated, but the president needs to make crystal clear that this is totally unacceptable in America.

Q: The White House blames a small group of IRS agents.

COLLINS: I just don't buy that this was a couple rogue IRS employees. After all, groups with "progressive" in their names were not targeted similarly. If it had been just a small group of employees, then high level IRS supervisors would have rushed to make this public, and fired the employees involved.

Source: CNN SOTU 2013 interview on 2014 Maine Senate race , May 12, 2013

Reform public financing system to get more opt-in