House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy: IRS was systematically targeting people based on their political views and this kind of intimidation must end

 Rep. Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, gives us his weekly view from Capitol Hill. In his own words:

 "As more details are uncovered about the outrageous actions by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), it is clear there is a massive cultural problem that exists inside the agency. It is unacceptable that any

American should be targeted for an audit based on his or her political beliefs. Receiving a notice from the IRS that an audit is to be conducted is terrifying enough, but for IRS employees to be directed to harass and target American citizens based on politics? This is simply wrong.

"After months of denials, the agency has finally admitted to systematically targeting individuals based on their personal political views. We need to find out who ordered it, why it began, and how widespread it was. We all saw testimony from the individuals who were exercising their First Amendment rights to voice their concerns about the direction of our country and for that, the IRS tried to intimidate them.

"As the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee investigate the IRS, be assured that I will continue to closely monitor the situation so that we can get to the bottom of this and hold the responsible individuals accountable.

These actions continue to erode the trust that Americans have toward their government, and I will continue to call for more transparency and accountability in Washington.