President Obama named Daniel Werfel to replace Steve Miller as acting IRS head
President Obama said Thursday he is naming a trusted White House budget official, Daniel Werfel, to serve as his new acting IRS commissioner.
The appointment of Werfel comes as a second top IRS official announced Thursday that he is stepping down in the aftermath of revelations that the agency targeted conservative and religious groups for extra scrutiny.
Obama announced that the controller of the White House Office of Management and Budget, Werfel, will move into the job of acting IRS commissioner next week, replacing Steven Miller.
Joseph Grant, commissioner of the agency’s tax-exempt and government entities division, “will retire” on June 3, according to an IRS statement.
Grant joined the IRS in August 2005 and became the deputy commissioner of the tax exempt division in 2007. He became the second senior IRS official in as many days to offer his resignation. Grant had only be elevated to the position of commissioner of the division last week — two days before the agency confirmed the targeting of Tea Party groups and conservative organizations applying for tax-exempt status.
“Throughout his career working in both Democratic and Republican administrations, Danny has proven an effective leader who serves with professionalism, integrity and skill,” Obama said in a statement. “The American people deserve to have the utmost confidence and trust in their government, and as we work to get to the bottom of what happened and restore confidence in the IRS, Danny has the experience and management ability necessary to lead the agency at this important time.”
Obama announced Wednesday that he’d accepted Miller’s resignation, saying the agency needed a change in leadership.
Miller will face questions Friday when he appears before the House Ways and Means Committee, where lawmakers plan to ask him why he didn’t inform Congress about the IRS’s treatment of Tea Party groups last year.
Committee Chairman Dave Camp, R-Mich., said Thursday, “It seems pretty clear that he was aware of this ongoing targeting. And he didn’t tell Congress.”
Photo: http://www.unitedliberty.org/articles/13680-breaking-acting-irs-commissioner-resigns
