The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has put staffers on administrative leave for taking gifts at a taxpayer-funded conference, days after a scathing report by an internal watchdog blasted the tax agency for wasteful spending, according to two congressional staffers briefed on the matter.
The IRS is battling criticism after the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported on Tuesday that the IRS spent about $50 million on 220 conferences in recent years, including to pay for lavish hotel rooms and speakers.
The two IRS employees, who took gifts in form of meals and other items, work on the agency's implementation of President Barack Obama’s healthcare law, the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
Reporting by Kim Dixon and Patrick Temple-West of Reuters
