Conservative Groups Testify About IRS Scrutiny

The leaders of six conservative groups will testify before the House Ways and Means Committee on Tuesday about the extra scrutiny that their applications for tax-exempt status received for 18 months during the 2010 and 2012 election campaigns.

IRS officials have acknowledged that the targeting was inappropriate.

At congressional hearings later this week they'll have more opportunities to explain why the agency, according the a Treasury Department Inspector General's report, spent $50 million to hold at least 220 employee development conferences in the same period of time.

In his "Federal Eye" column for The Washington Post, Josh Hicks writes, "Viewers who watch Tuesday’s hearing can expect to see the congressional panel — especially its GOP members — draw out dramatic accounts of the worst experiences from the review process."

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Politico "By linking the scandal to Washington-based officials, Issa and other House Republicans hope to prove that the targeting of conservative groups was politically motivated and not just the result of bureaucratic bumbling by Cincinnati officials operating without proper supervision."

New York Times "For Mr. Camp, spotlighting the tax-collecting agency — and stoking voter antipathy for it — are ways to build momentum for his plan to rewrite and simplify the entire tax code, a goal he has set for the end of the year."