Panel: Lois Lerner Eyed GOP Senator

The House Ways and Means Committee announced Wednesday that it has evidence that former IRS official Lois Lerner briefly considered referring Republican Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa for a potential audit. Chairman Dave Camp (R-MI) said in a statement, “The fact that Lois Lerner attempted to initiate an apparently baseless IRS examination against a sitting Republican United States senator is shocking.” Lerner received an invitation to a speech intended for Grassley and was concerned that an offer to pay Grassley’s wife to attend might raise tax issues that needed to be examined. However, another IRS official quickly dissauded Lerner of this and the matter was apparently dropped.