Emails released Wednesday revealed that Sarah Hall Ingram, the IRS’ top ObamaCare official, advised White House executive staff on legal challenges from groups claiming the HHS contraception mandate violated their religious freedom. Redactions in the emails indicate they contained confidential taxpayer information.
Prior to heading the IRS office in charge of implementing ObamaCare, Ingram directed the office responsible for overseeing tax-exempt nonprofit groups, the same office that has been accused of targeting conservative, pro-life, and Tea Party groups.
The Washington Free Beacon reported that the emails, which were released by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, demonstrate that Ingram and others at the IRS violated the agency’s role as an impartial administrator of the tax code by counseling the White House about an issue that is both political and controversial.
Currently, there are 73 cases and over 200 plaintiffs that represent church organizations, hospitals, universities, businesses, schools, and individuals who have filed lawsuits against HHS based on the claim that the contraception mandate is unconstitutional and infringes upon religious liberty.
Several names and blocks of text are redacted in the emails, with notations citing section 6103 of the IRS Code that prohibits the release of tax return information by IRS agents.
In emails sent July 20, 2012 from White House official Jeanne Lambrew to Ingram and White House health policy advisor Ellen Montz, and copied to Health Care Counsel at IRS Catherine Livingston and IRS Manager in Exempt Organizations David Fish, Lambrew wrote:
(Excerpt) Read more at breitbart.com ...
