It's official. The House crazies are going to do it, thumbing their nose at Speaker Paul Ryan, and moving to impeach the IRS commissioner against his repeated refusal to take it up.
The House Freedom Caucus on Wednesday set in motion a plan to force a vote to impeach IRS Commissioner John Koskinen, bucking House GOP leaders who oppose the idea and worry it will lower the bar for such extreme actions in the future. […]
Reps. John Fleming of Louisiana and Tim Huelskamp of Kansas filed a motion calling for Koskinen’s ouster. Because of the procedure they used to introduce the resolution, the motion is not “privileged” and is therefore referred to the Judiciary Committee, which does not have to act on the controversial measure.
However, Fleming and Huelskamp are expected to refile a similar motion on Thursday using a slightly different procedure, according to Republican leadership sources. This second resolution would be “privileged,” meaning whoever files it can force a floor vote on the measure, although with the House ready to adjourn for a seven-week recess, that would likely not take place until September.
Huelksamp said Wednesday there “will be some action on it tomorrow,” but he declined to say exactly what he, Fleming and the Freedom Caucus are planning.
They're boxing Ryan in: "he and other top Republicans can oppose the motion and be portrayed by conservative critics as protecting Koskinen, or they can support it despite concerns that it is not an appropriate action by the House." It's as power play by the Freedom Caucus as much as anything else, telling Ryan to bow to their will or face the same fate as former Speaker John Boehner. This big fight will happen in the September work period, which as of now just has just nine full days of work scheduled, where everything from guns to Zika to keeping the government's doors open with a funding bill is supposed to happen. It makes the last dash of work before the election even more fraught for Ryan.
And for the Senate. Mitch McConnell's deputy, Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) tried to dismiss the move by the House maniacs, saying "[w]e've got other things to do that I think people would generally view as more urgent priorities." Like trying to hold onto the majority in what's shaping up to be a disastrous elections for Republicans. As for the attempted coup? "[T]he Senate's majority whip joked it 'makes me nervous when you say that.'" I bet.