with their inspector general as well and again the irs where the administration was attacking russell george, the ig there because of what he found. so five instances they're trying to go around these igs. >> the problem here is the obnoxious conceit that's regulation to begin with. we're asking people that couldn't get jobs in certain industries to regulate those who could. that's why it never works. it's worse than a problem and more broadly, we have to remind ourselves that a lot of these regulatory bodies were created as a barrier to entry to protect industries. so when you look at energy, you say the problem with energy regulation is it keeps out the innovators. silicon valley is not regulated and that's why it's a source of innovation. regulated industries are the opposite of that. >> the fact that we have them now, steve, the only thing that stops them entirely from being rogue agencies are these inspectors general and now the administration is trying to go around them. >> that's right. that's the whole thing about checks and balances in the government and not talking fisically. no on

corruption here that was admitted even by the inspector general assigned to this investigation, russell george, that these groups were improperly targeted, and they were conservative groups. they mentioned that they were liberal groups, but the liberal groups were not subjected to the same scrutiny and delays. >> and which is absolutely goes to the heart of the charge in this scandal, that the irs was targeting conservative groups and the response -- the official response of the administration, in various levels, in various departments by various officials has been that they targeted both liberal groups as well as conservative groups which was a patent misrepresentation, to put it kindly. >> right. i mean, that's totally been debunked. and lois lerner knows that she has more to say. you know, she came in, professed her innocence, said she did nothing wrong, made a statement of fact. and then we uncover e-mails that show that she was trying to divert these cases from cincinnati, the very people she initially blamed them on. we brought these people in. they said they felt like they had been hit

we asked the inspector general, russell george, on may 17, 2013, in a hearing before the ways and means committee, and i quote, this was the question, did you find any evidence of political motivation in the selection of tax exempt applications? he -- he responded, the inspector general who investigated this case testified, and this is a quote, we did not, sir. period. mr. speaker, i rise in strong opposition to this contempt resolution. what began as a necessary and compelling bipartisan investigation into the targeting of american citizens by the internal revenue service has now deteriorated into a -- into the very sort of dangerous and careless government overreaching that our committee was set out to investigate in the first place. the gentleman from california commenced this investigation in may of 2013 by stating the following during his opening statement. this is a quote. when government power is used to target americans for exercising their constitutional rights, there is nothing we as representatives should find more important than to take it seriously, get to the bottom of it

we asked the inspector general, russell george, on may 17, 2013, in a hearing before the ways and means committee, and i quote, this was the question, did you find any evidence of political motivation in the selection of tax exempt applications? he -- he responded, the inspector general who investigated this case testified, and this is a quote, we did not, sir. period. mr. speaker, i rise in strong opposition to this contempt resolution. what began as a necessary and compelling bipartisan investigation into the targeting of american citizens by the internal revenue service has now deteriorated into a -- into the very sort of dangerous and careless government overreaching that our committee was set out to investigate in the first place. the gentleman from california commenced this investigation in may of 2013 by stating the following during his opening statement. this is a quote. when government power is used to target americans for exercising their constitutional rights, there is nothing we as representatives should find more important than to take it seriously, get to the bottom of it

the inspector general, russell george, was asked at a may 17, 2013 hearing, before the ways and means committee, i quote, did you find any evidence of political motivation in the selection of the tax exemption obligations? end quote. in the response he testified, i quote, we did not, sir. end of quote. oversight committee staff asked all 39 witnesses whether they were aware of any political bias in the creation or use of inappropriate criteria, not one identified even a single instance of political motivation or bias. look, there needs to be reforms in the i.r.s. we need to make sure the i.r.s. is above politics. but bringing this political circus, this witch-hunt to the floor, purely because it polls well amongst your base, is lewd crust. -- it's lewd chris. -- ludicrous. we should be raising the minimum wage, we should be passing immigration reform. we should be dealing with the pay equity bill so that women get paid the same amount that men do for working the same job. it's also a family issue. we have to focus on getting this economy going. instead because my friends on the other

russell you are good to go! alright, fellas. alright, russ. back to work! >>> time to meet some of george's rising stars. democrats and arguably georgia's top rising star, of course, is democrat mayor of atlanta reid. you won't find him on the list. he is high profile guy already. so first up is house minority leader stacy abrams. first woman to lead either party in the georgia general assembly and the first african-american leader in the state house. experts say she is sure to run statewide in the state future and a romance novelist. other democrat on the list is state rep scott holcombe. he's the deputy whip and a former army jag attorney. not only a party power broker, wide appeal with the wealthy east atlanta residents and he represents the party's minority base. let's move to the republican side and first up on the republican side is state senator charlie bethel. first elected in 2010, tapped as one of the governor's floor leaders and sponsors many of the party's key bills. former city councilman. he could be running for governor himself in 2018. and then finally meet state rep b.j. pak. the leading