ORRIN HATCH: Questions For The IRS:

Frankly, at this point, there are more questions than answers about what exactly happened at the IRS.

Who conceived the idea to target groups with conservative-sounding names for extra scrutiny as the IRS processed their applications? How could that have been considered an appropriate option?

Why did targeting resume a few months after a senior manager shut it down?

And, perhaps most importantly, when did the commissioner and general counsel of the IRS, both of whom are not career civil servants, learn of the practice, and to what extent did they — or others in the Obama Administration — know about it or direct it?

We still don’t know the answers to any of these critical questions.

That is why it is vital that the Finance Committee continue to methodically examine all of the evidence to determine how this practice began, why it was allowed to continue after it was discovered, and whether the IRS truly has stopped putting conservative groups through extra layers of scrutiny.

To carry out its investigation, the committee has interviewed more than a dozen IRS employees and is reviewing hundreds of thousands of documents. In the end, all the necessary facts must be brought to light so that Congress can come up with an appropriate solution and, if necessary, hold accountable those who were responsible for any wrongdoing.

Yes. And the agency must be deterred from doing anything similar in the future.