House GOP seeks more documents in probe of health law's subsidies
Reps. Dave Camp (R-Mich.) and Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) said the IRS redacted documents about how it decided to handle the law's insurance subsidies. The lawmakers are now asking for an unfiltered look at the decision-making process.
The statute refers to subsidies flowing through a "state exchange" — which, to the law's critics, means subsidies shouldn't be available in the federal exchange. The IRS has said it determined that Congress intended for subsidies to be available in both state- and federally-run marketplaces, but Republicans have pressed the tax agency to back up that assertion.
Camp and Issa — respectively, the chairmen of the House Ways and Means Committee and Oversight and Government Reform Committee, said their staffers were allowed to view certain documents about the IRS's decision-making, but only with heavy redaction.
One internal IRS document said "these provisions … may be controversial," followed by heavy redactions, Camp and Issa charged in a letter Monday.
They said another edited document was titled "Significant Issues and Considerations."
The lawmakers requested a full look at the redacted materials.