The House Ways and Means Committee approved the "STOP Targeting of Political Beliefs by the IRS Act" on Tuesday.
The bill will stop the IRS from implementing new rules that Republicans say would target conservative groups.
Ways and Means Committee Chairman Dave Camp (R., Mich.) released the following statement:
The rationale of the IRS and Treasury was that the rules, which have been in place for more than 50 years, created ‘confusion.’ However, we learned that Treasury and the IRS had been working on these guidelines behind closed doors for years. … A June 2012 email between Treasury officials and then-IRS Director of Tax Exempt Organizations Lois Lerner revealed that these potential regulations were being discussed ‘off-plan’–meaning that the plans for the regulations were not to be published on the public schedule. Treasury’s fabricated rationale for changing a 50-year old rule raises serious questions about the integrity of the rule-making process and counsels for putting a hold on the draft rules.