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Top Republican to IRS: You say you’re broke. How can you afford 700 new employees?

The chairman of a powerful House committee is demanding to know how IRS chief John Koskinen has found the money to hire up to 700 enforcement staffers when he told Congress a short time ago his agency was more or less broke.

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah), chairman of the House Oversight and Government Reform panel, reminded the Internal Revenue Service commissioner in a letter that he told lawmakers in February that he “urgently needed” a billion-dollar budget increase next year to boost the agency’s enforcement staff.

“Now, less than three months later, without that increase, you have announced plans to increase enforcement activities,” Chaffetz wrote. “The inescapable conclusion is that your testimony to Congress was inaccurate, reflecting either an attempt to exaggerate IRS’s budget needs or a management failure in understanding the needs of your organization.”

The Utah Republican’s May 6 letter, first reported by Fox News, is the latest attack by House Republicans on Koskinen’s management of the IRS since Congress launched a lengthy probe of the agency’s treatment of conservative groups.

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