By . David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor . The House Oversight Committee voted Thursday to refer a 'Contempt of Congress' vote on former IRS official Lois Lerner to the full House of Representatives. The latest page in the IRS tea-party targeting scandal came a day after the Ways and Means Committee referred Lerner to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution. In May 2013 and March 2014, Lerner invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer Oversight members' questions about a plan she allegedly led to subject right-wing groups to years of intrusive questions before they could claim a special tax-exempt status. Liberal applicants were quickly green-lighted. A visibly angry South Carolina GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy provided the biggest rhetorical fireworks on Thursday, demanding that Democrats join with the GOP in approving the resolution. None did, and the resolution passed, 21-12. The committee, he crowed, had good reason to rule in 2013 that by giving a lengthy opening statement that contained more than a dozen statements in her defense, she waived her right to remain silent and would have to face her accusers' questions. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Rep. Darrell Issa, the tenacious chairman of the House Oversight Committee, smiled as his Republican-controlled panel voted in favor of holding former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress for her refusal to answer questions . Lerner, a career bureaucrat and former IRS Director of Exempt Organizations, has refused to answer questions about her role in a scheme to play political favorites by slow-walking conservatives' applications for special tax status while fast-tracking requests from liberals . 'Can you imagine a fact pattern,' Gowdy said, referring to criminal trials, 'where somebody takes the stand and says, "I didn’t rob the bank, but I'm not gonna answer why my fingerprints are on the demand note. And I’m not gonna tell you why I’m on the surveillance footage with a gun in my hand. And I’m not gonna tell you why the dye pack blew up in my car. I’m just gonna tell you I didn’t rob the bank!" That’s not the way our system works.' 'I counted 17 separate factual assertions by Ms. Lerner. ... That is a lot of talking for somebody who wants to remain silent. That’s a lot of talking,' Gowdy said in a loud denunciation. 'If you honestly believe that you can make 17 separate factual assertions and still invoke your right to remain silent, then please tell me what a waiver is!' Oversight committee chairman Darrell Issa, a California Republican, laid out his side's case in an opening statement. 'Our investigation has found that former IRS Exempt Organizations division Director Lois Lerner played a central role in the targeting scandal and then failed to meet her legal obligations to answer questions after she waived her right not to testify,' he said. 'In demanding answers and holding a powerful government official accountable for her failure to meet her legal obligations, this committee did its job. If the House takes up and passes the resolution, the matter will be referred to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, which statute requires he take to a grand jury.' There is 'sufficient reason to move contempt through the House,' he told Democrats, 'and then ultimately have the question decided by a lifetime-appointment U.S. federal judge that I won’t get to pick and you won’t get to pick.' A visibly angry South Carolina GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy went after Democrats who refused to concede that Lerner's lengthy opening statement in a May 2013 hearing was sufficient to require her to face questions afterward . McCarthyism!: Rep. Elijah Cummings (L), the Oversight Committee's ranking Democrat, held up a copy of the U.S. Constitution as he insisted that a contempt vote against Lerner would be no different from Sen. Joseph McCarthy's 'Un-American activities' witch-hunts in the 1950s . Democrats have held throughout the IRS saga that Lerner's right to refuse to answer questions was absolute, regardless of any statements she made to the committee before pleading the Fifth. 'Ms. Lerner has invoked her Fifth Amendment right, and that’s it. The end!' said New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney on Thursday. Elijah Cummings, the committee's ranking Democrat, said that his 'no' vote was an effort to defend 'the protections guaranteed by the Constitution to every American. I cannot cast a vote that will place me on the same page of history books with [Joseph] McCarthy.' Issa has doggedly pursued the IRS tea-party targeting scandal, investigating how the nation's tax agency came to be involved with the rights of nonprofits to engage in public speech . McCarthy was a Wisconsin Republican Senator during the 1950s 'red scare' anti-communist period who orchestrated contempt votes against Americans who refused to answer questions related to so-called 'un-American activities.' 'We are defending Ms. Lerner’s right to . exercise her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination,' added . Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly, 'precisely because she cuts a less than heroic figure.' Issa insisted that 'taxpayers don’t get to plead the Fifth and escape all accountability when the IRS audits them. … It would irresponsible for the committee not to vigorously pursue her testimony.' House Speaker John Boehner has said that he will take up the Oversight committee's resolution on the House floor. 'If Lois Lerner continues to refuse to testify, then the House will hold her in contempt,' he told reporters on Wednesday. The resolution approved on Thursday declares that '[t]he Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee recommends that the House find Ms. Lerner in contempt for her failure to comply with the subpoena issued to her' for her testimony. In a House Ways and Means Committee hearing Wednesday, a different slate of Republicans won a vote demanding the Justice Department criminally prosecute Lerner, claiming she committed three federal crimes punishable by a total of 11 years in prison. The panel voted 23-14, along party lines, to approve a letter instructing Attorney General Eric Holder to charge Lerner and prosecute her in court. The Justice Department has said it already has its own investigation into the conduct of Lerner and other Obama administration officials in what has become known as the 'tea party scandal.' One-two punch: Ways and Means Committee chair Dave Camp, a Michigan Republican, presided over a vote directing the attorney general to prosecute Lerner on three criminal charges . Lerner's attorney, William Taylor III, has told reporters that his client  met with DOJ officials and answered their questions weeks ago, but has heard nothing since. President Obama seemed to pre-empt that inquiry's result on Super Bowl Sunday, declaring in a televised interview with Fox news Channel host Bill o'Reilly that there is 'not even a smidgen of corruption' at the IRS. Ways and Means approved a criminal referral letter charging her with 'us[ing] her position to improperly influence agency action against only conservative organizations, denying these groups due process and equal protection rights under the law.' She 'impeded official investigations by providing misleading statements in response to questions from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration,' their statement continues. And 'Lerner risked exposing, and may actually have disclosed, confidential taxpayer information, in apparent violation of Internal Revenue Code section 6103 by using her personal email to conduct official business.'
House Oversight Committee Republicans prevailed on a party-line vote to refer a contempt citation to the full House of Representatives .
The Ways and Means Committee voted Wednesday to refer Lerner to the Justice Department for prosecution .
She's accused of violating conservative groups' constitutional rights while giving liberal groups a pass, and misleading investigators .
Attorney General Eric Holder was himself found in contempt in 2012, but his agency has declined to do anything .
After a House contempt vote, federal prosecutors would be required to take the case to a grand jury for a possible indictment .
By . David Martosko, U.s. Political Editor . The House Oversight Committee voted Thursday to refer a 'Contempt of Congress' vote on former IRS official Lois Lerner to the full House of Representatives. The latest page in the IRS tea-party targeting scandal came a day after the Ways and Means Committee referred Lerner to the Justice Department for criminal prosecution. In May 2013 and March 2014, Lerner invoked the Fifth Amendment and refused to answer Oversight members' questions about a plan she allegedly led to subject right-wing groups to years of intrusive questions before they could claim a special tax-exempt status. Liberal applicants were quickly green-lighted. A visibly angry South Carolina GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy provided the biggest rhetorical fireworks on Thursday, demanding that Democrats join with the GOP in approving the resolution. None did, and the resolution passed, 21-12. The committee, he crowed, had good reason to rule in 2013 that by giving a lengthy opening statement that contained more than a dozen statements in her defense, she waived her right to remain silent and would have to face her accusers' questions. SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO . Rep. Darrell Issa, the tenacious chairman of the House Oversight Committee, smiled as his Republican-controlled panel voted in favor of holding former Internal Revenue Service official Lois Lerner in contempt of Congress for her refusal to answer questions . Lerner, a career bureaucrat and former IRS Director of Exempt Organizations, has refused to answer questions about her role in a scheme to play political favorites by slow-walking conservatives' applications for special tax status while fast-tracking requests from liberals . 'Can you imagine a fact pattern,' Gowdy said, referring to criminal trials, 'where somebody takes the stand and says, "I didn’t rob the bank, but I'm not gonna answer why my fingerprints are on the demand note. And I’m not gonna tell you why I’m on the surveillance footage with a gun in my hand. And I’m not gonna tell you why the dye pack blew up in my car. I’m just gonna tell you I didn’t rob the bank!" That’s not the way our system works.' 'I counted 17 separate factual assertions by Ms. Lerner. ... That is a lot of talking for somebody who wants to remain silent. That’s a lot of talking,' Gowdy said in a loud denunciation. 'If you honestly believe that you can make 17 separate factual assertions and still invoke your right to remain silent, then please tell me what a waiver is!' Oversight committee chairman Darrell Issa, a California Republican, laid out his side's case in an opening statement. 'Our investigation has found that former IRS Exempt Organizations division Director Lois Lerner played a central role in the targeting scandal and then failed to meet her legal obligations to answer questions after she waived her right not to testify,' he said. 'In demanding answers and holding a powerful government official accountable for her failure to meet her legal obligations, this committee did its job. If the House takes up and passes the resolution, the matter will be referred to the U.S. attorney for the District of Columbia, which statute requires he take to a grand jury.' There is 'sufficient reason to move contempt through the House,' he told Democrats, 'and then ultimately have the question decided by a lifetime-appointment U.S. federal judge that I won’t get to pick and you won’t get to pick.' A visibly angry South Carolina GOP Rep. Trey Gowdy went after Democrats who refused to concede that Lerner's lengthy opening statement in a May 2013 hearing was sufficient to require her to face questions afterward . McCarthyism!: Rep. Elijah Cummings (L), the Oversight Committee's ranking Democrat, held up a copy of the U.S. Constitution as he insisted that a contempt vote against Lerner would be no different from Sen. Joseph McCarthy's 'Un-American activities' witch-hunts in the 1950s . Democrats have held throughout the IRS saga that Lerner's right to refuse to answer questions was absolute, regardless of any statements she made to the committee before pleading the Fifth. 'Ms. Lerner has invoked her Fifth Amendment right, and that’s it. The end!' said New York Democratic Rep. Carolyn Maloney on Thursday. Elijah Cummings, the committee's ranking Democrat, said that his 'no' vote was an effort to defend 'the protections guaranteed by the Constitution to every American. I cannot cast a vote that will place me on the same page of history books with [Joseph] McCarthy.' Issa has doggedly pursued the IRS tea-party targeting scandal, investigating how the nation's tax agency came to be involved with the rights of nonprofits to engage in public speech . McCarthy was a Wisconsin Republican Senator during the 1950s 'red scare' anti-communist period who orchestrated contempt votes against Americans who refused to answer questions related to so-called 'un-American activities.' 'We are defending Ms. Lerner’s right to . exercise her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination,' added . Virginia Democratic Rep. Gerry Connolly, 'precisely because she cuts a less than heroic figure.' Issa insisted that 'taxpayers don’t get to plead the Fifth and escape all accountability when the IRS audits them. … It would irresponsible for the committee not to vigorously pursue her testimony.' House Speaker John Boehner has said that he will take up the Oversight committee's resolution on the House floor. 'If Lois Lerner continues to refuse to testify, then the House will hold her in contempt,' he told reporters on Wednesday. The resolution approved on Thursday declares that '[t]he Chairman of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee recommends that the House find Ms. Lerner in contempt for her failure to comply with the subpoena issued to her' for her testimony. In a House Ways and Means Committee hearing Wednesday, a different slate of Republicans won a vote demanding the Justice Department criminally prosecute Lerner, claiming she committed three federal crimes punishable by a total of 11 years in prison. The panel voted 23-14, along party lines, to approve a letter instructing Attorney General Eric Holder to charge Lerner and prosecute her in court. The Justice Department has said it already has its own investigation into the conduct of Lerner and other Obama administration officials in what has become known as the 'tea party scandal.' One-two punch: Ways and Means Committee chair Dave Camp, a Michigan Republican, presided over a vote directing the attorney general to prosecute Lerner on three criminal charges . Lerner's attorney, William Taylor III, has told reporters that his client met with DOJ officials and answered their questions weeks ago, but has heard nothing since. President Obama seemed to pre-empt that inquiry's result on Super Bowl Sunday, declaring in a televised interview with Fox news Channel host Bill o'Reilly that there is 'not even a smidgen of corruption' at the IRS. Ways and Means approved a criminal referral letter charging her with 'us[ing] her position to improperly influence agency action against only conservative organizations, denying these groups due process and equal protection rights under the law.' She 'impeded official investigations by providing misleading statements in response to questions from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration,' their statement continues. And 'Lerner risked exposing, and may actually have disclosed, confidential taxpayer information, in apparent violation of Internal Revenue Code section 6103 by using her personal email to conduct official business.'
House Oversight Committee voted Thursday to refer official Lois Lerner to the full House of Representatives. The latest page in the IRS Justice Department for criminal prosecution. In he take to a grand jury.' There is 'sufficient insisted that a contempt vote against Lerner agency came to be involved with the rights of House Ways and Means Committee hearing Wednesday, General Eric Holder to charge Lerner and