Republican California Rep. Darrell Issa, the GOP’s top government
watchdog, warns that we have entered a time to “love my country, fear my
government.”
“Right now, there’s a reason to fear the IRS and other agencies,
including the EPA, who are loaded with people who feel empowered to bend
the rules against those they disagree with,” the California Republican
explained.
Issa has been investigating the Internal Revenue Service since Lois
Lerner’s May 2013 admission that the agency treated conservative groups
differently, and his Sept. 17 committee report details the committee’s progress and findings to date.
Issa now believes that President Obama’s criticism of the U.S.
Supreme Court in his 2010 State of the Union address sent an important
signal to left-wing activists throughout the federal government that “I
can work with the president even if it’s inconsistent with my job or the
Constitution.”
On another matter, having learned more about the National Security Agency’s data collection since he voted against the Amash amendment on July 24, Issa has taken the unusual step of urging House leadership
to reschedule this vote based on what he has since learned. He would
now vote with Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash, the freshman
congressman well-known for his efforts to prevent questionable
surveillance efforts of the NSA.
“I want to be careful not to disclose classified information, but the
excuse for this taking is that it costs more to leave it and go back
for it than to collect it and maintain it,” Issa said. “And I think the
one thing that’s important is that the NSA should never say we’re going
to violate people’s Fourth Amendment rights because it is politically or
financially expedient.”
In this exclusive interview, Issa updates The Daily Caller on several
other committee priorities, including President Obama’s unilateral
executive orders, which he now thinks need congressional approval,
government waste and excessive spending, gun policies and the coming
financial crisis of the U.S. Postal Service.
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