[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 56 (Thursday, May 7, 1998)]
[Daily Digest]
[Pages D471-D473]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                                              Thursday, May 7, 1998

[[Page D471]]

                              Daily Digest


HIGHLIGHTS

      Senate passed Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform 
      Act.
      The House passed H.R. 3694, Intelligence Authorization Act for FY 
      1999.


                                 Senate


Chamber Action
Routine Proceedings, pages S4451-S4553
Measures Introduced: Fourteen bills and one resolution were introduced, 
as follows: S. 2040-2053, and S. Res. 225.
  Page S4528
Measures Reported: Reports were made as follows:
  S. 2052, to authorize appropriations for fiscal year 1999 for 
intelligence and intelligence-related activities of the United States 
Government, the Community Management Account, and the Central 
Intelligence Retirement and Disability System. (S. Rept. No. 105-185)
  S. 1525, to provide financial assistance for higher education to the 
dependents of Federal, State, and local public safety officers who are 
killed or permanently and totally disabled as the result of a traumatic 
injury sustained in the line of duty.
  S. Con. Res. 75, honoring the sesquicentennial of Wisconsin 
statehood.
Pages S4527-28
Measures Passed:
  IRS Reform: By a unanimous vote of 97 yeas (Vote No. 126), Senate 
passed H.R. 2676, to amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to 
restructure and reform the Internal Revenue Service, after agreeing to 
a committee amendment in the nature of a substitute, and taking action 
on amendments proposed thereto, as follows: 
                                  Pages S4452-60, S4462-87, S4489-S4521
Adopted:
  Kerrey Amendment No. 2358, to require a study on the willful 
noncompliance with internal revenue laws by taxpayers to be conducted 
jointly by the Joint Committee on Taxation, Secretary of the Treasury, 
and the Commissioner of Internal Revenue.
Pages S4454-55
  Kerrey Amendment No. 2359, to require the Inspector General for Tax 
Administration to report to Congress on administrative and civil 
actions taken with respect to fair debt collection provisions. 
                                                         Pages S4454-55
  Kerrey Amendment No. 2361, to express the policy of Congress that the 
Internal Revenue Service should work cooperatively with the private 
sector to increase electronic filing.
Page S4460
  Grassley Amendment No. 2362, to appoint a counsel in the Office of 
the Taxpayer Advocate to report directly to the National Taxpayer 
Advocate.
Page S4460
  Grassley Amendment No. 2363, to authorize the Secretary of the 
Treasury to provide a combined employment tax reporting demonstration 
project.
Page S4460
  Craig Modified Amendment No. 2364, to require advance notification to 
taxpayers before disclosure of their income tax return information to 
state and local governments.
Pages S4464-66
  Kerrey/Grassley Amendment No. 2368, to amend the provision regarding 
offset of past-due legally enforceable State income tax obligations 
against overpayments to apply to debts for which an administrative 
hearing has determined an amount of State income tax to be due. 
                                                             Page S4468
  Graham/D'Amato/Feinstein Amendment No. 2369, to clarify the actual 
knowledge standard of the innocent spouse provision.
Pages S4473-74
  Roth (for Domenici/D'Amato/McCain) Amendment No. 2370, to require on 
all IRS telephone helplines an option for questions to be answered in 
Spanish.
Pages S4474-75
  Roth (for Domenici) Amendment No. 2371, to require all IRS telephone 
helplines an option to talk to a live person in addition to hearing a 
recorded message.
Pages S4474-75
  Bond/Moseley-Braun Amendment No. 2373, to improve electronic filing 
of tax and information returns.
Pages S4483-84

[[Page D472]]


  Gramm Amendment No 2374, to expand the shift in burden of proof from 
income tax liability to all tax liabilities.
Pages S4484-85
  Gramm Amendment No. 2375, to prohibit Government officers and 
employees from requesting taxpayers to give up their rights to sue. 
                                                             Page S4485
  Gramm Amendment No. 2376, to provide for the termination of 
employment of IRS employees for willful failure to file income tax 
returns or threatening an audit for retaliatory purposes.
Page S4486
  Roth (for Craig) Amendment No. 2377, to require disclosure to 
taxpayers concerning disclosure of their income tax return information 
to parties outside the Internal Revenue Service.
Pages S4486-87
  Roth (for Craig) Amendment No. 2378, to limit the disclosure and use 
of federal tax return information to the States for purposes necessary 
to administer State income tax laws.
Page S4487
  Grams Amendment No. 2379, to provide interest payment exemption for 
disaster victims in the Presidentially declared disaster areas. 
                                                             Page S4506
  Dodd (for Moynihan) Amendment No. 2380, to provide effective dates 
which allow the Internal Revenue Service to implement changes to the 
tax code and to meet the year 2000 computer conversion deadline. 
                                                         Pages S4510-12
  Collins/DeWine Amendment No. 2381, to modify the reporting 
requirements in connection with the education tax credit. 
                                                         Pages S4514-17
  Roth Amendment No. 2382, to make certain technical corrections. 
                                                         Pages S4517-18
  Roth (for Graham) Amendment No. 2383, to apply the interest netting 
provision to all Federal taxes and to open taxable periods occurring 
before the date of the enactment of this Act.
Pages S4518-19
  Roth (for Stevens) Amendment No. 2384, relating to State fish and 
wildlife permits.
Pages S4518-19
  Roth (for Bingaman) Amendment No. 2385, relating to the report on tax 
complexity and low-income taxpayer clinics.
Pages S4518-19
Rejected:
  By 42 yeas to 57 nays (Vote No. 122), Thompson/Sessions Amendment No. 
2356, to strike the exemptions from criminal conflict laws for a IRS 
Oversight Board member from employee organization.
Pages S4452-54
  By 35 yeas to 64 nays (Vote No. 123), Faircloth Amendment No. 2360, 
to remove the union representative of the Internal Revenue Service 
employees from the Internal Revenue Service Oversight Board. 
                                                         Pages S4455-59
  By 40 yeas to 59 nays (Vote No. 124), Mack Amendment No. 2372, to 
strike the Secretary of the Treasury from the Internal Revenue Service 
Oversight Board.
Pages S4478-83
Withdrawn:
  Craig Amendment No. 2365, to limit the disclosure and use of federal 
tax return information to the States to purposes necessary to 
administer State income tax laws.
Pages S4464-66, S4487
  Craig Amendment No. 2366, to require disclosure to taxpayers 
concerning disclosure of their income tax return information to parties 
outside the Internal Revenue Service.
Pages S4464-66, S4487
  During consideration of this measure today, Senate also took the 
following action:
  By 37 yeas to 60 nays (Vote No. 125), three-fifths of those Senators 
duly chosen and sworn not having voted in the affirmative, Senate 
failed to agree to a motion to waive the Congressional Budget Act with 
respect to consideration of Coverdell Amendment No. 2353, to prohibit 
the use of random audits. Subsequently, a point of order that the 
amendment was in violation of section 202 of the Congressional Budget 
Act was sustained, and the amendment thus fell.
Pages S4512-14, S4519
Appointment:
  U.S. Capitol Preservation Commission: The Chair, on behalf of the 
President pro tempore, pursuant to Public Law 10-696, appointed the 
following Senators as members of the United States Capitol Preservation 
Commission: Senators Gorton and Bennett.
  Page S4553
Messages From the House:
  Page S4526
Measures Referred:
  Page S4526
Measures Read First Time:
  Page S4526
Communications:
  Pages S4526-27
Executive Reports of Committees:
  Page S4528
Statements on Introduced Bills:
  Pages S4528-41
Additional Cosponsors:
  Pages S4541-42
Amendments Submitted:
  Pages S4543-47
Notices of Hearings:
  Page S4547
Authority for Committees:
  Page S4547
Additional Statements:
  Pages S4547-53
Record Votes: Five record votes were taken today. (Total--126) 
                                    Pages S4454, S4459, S4483, S4519-20
Adjournment: Senate convened at 9:30 a.m., and adjourned at 7:46 p.m., 
until 9:30 a.m., on Friday, May 8, 1998. (For Senate's program, see the 
remarks of the Acting Majority Leader in today's Record on page S4553.)

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