[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 112 (Wednesday, July 31, 2013)]
[House]
[Pages H5209-H5211]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                   STOP PLAYING ON CITIZENS' CASH ACT

  Mr. ROSKAM. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the 
bill (H.R. 2769) to impose a moratorium on conferences held by the 
Internal Revenue Service, as amended.
  The Clerk read the title of the bill.
  The text of the bill is as follows:

                               H.R. 2769

       Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of 
     the United States of America in Congress assembled,

     SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

       This Act may be cited as the ``Stop Playing on Citizens' 
     Cash Act''.

     SEC. 2. MORATORIUM ON IRS CONFERENCES.

       The Internal Revenue Service shall not hold any conference 
     until the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration 
     submits a report to Congress--
       (1) certifying that the Internal Revenue Service has 
     implemented all of the recommendations set out in such 
     Inspector General's report titled ``Review of the August 2010 
     Small Business/Self-Employed Division's Conference in 
     Anaheim, California'', and
       (2) describing such implementation.

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Roskam) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin) each 
will control 20 minutes.
  The Chair recognizes the gentleman from Illinois.


                             General Leave

  Mr. ROSKAM. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members 
have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and 
to include extraneous material on the subject of the bill under 
consideration.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the 
gentleman from Illinois?
  There was no objection.
  Mr. ROSKAM. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  H.R. 2769 offers the House an opportunity to go back to our 
constituents who are asking this question when we are out and about at 
home: What in the world is the House of Representatives doing about the 
IRS scandals? There is a series of scandals that we've heard about that 
we've heard testimony from in both the Ways and Means Committee, on 
which I and the ranking member serve, and also the Government Oversight 
Committee--and my suspicion is maybe some other committees of the 
House. But when our constituents say, What in the world are you doing?, 
this bill that we are discussing is part of that remedy.
  Here is one of the things that we have come to learn, Mr. Speaker:
  We've come to learn that the Inspector General, the Treasury 
Inspector General for tax administration, did an audit; and in the 
course of the audit discovered that there were funds that were being 
misused in the context of conferences. Some of them were conferences 
that looked at, even in the most favorable light, even if you were 
looking at it in the most favorable light from an IRS point of view, 
were clearly gratuitous and an abuse and overspending. Some of this had 
to do with videos that were videos of parodies of the television show 
``Star Trek'' and, actually, I think a bunch of nonsense. Some of it 
had to do with the purchasing of trinkets. Some of it had to do with 
overspending. So the Inspector General very clearly said, Look, there 
has to be a remedy here.
  What the House is proposing in consideration of this bill is that all 
of these IRS conferences have to stop--hit the pause button on all of 
them--until the recommendations of the Inspector General are met. When 
the Inspector General then reports to Congress that those 
recommendations that would stop the nonsense have been fulfilled under 
a new set of criteria, the IRS says that they've met these, the 
Inspector General certifies it, then the conferences can go on.

                              {time}  1530

  I think it's thoughtful. I think it has been approached on a 
bipartisan basis. I have been very encouraged by the spirit with which 
the Democrats and Republicans on the Ways and Means Committee have 
worked together to investigate and inquire of the IRS but not just 
looking through the rearview mirror. Looking through the rearview 
mirror, yes, but also saying: What did we learn? How do we 
prospectively make sure that these things don't happen again?
  With that, I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  The bills today and the bill on Friday on ACA are more about politics 
than policy--politics at any cost by the Republican majority. They want 
to change the subject from their inability to legislate and their 
refusal to go to conference on a budget so that we could implement 
long-term deficit reduction and not threaten our economy

[[Page H5210]]

with default again this fall. In their abysmal failure to act on jobs 
legislation all of these months, there has been no real effort to join 
hands on their part on jobs--the number one concern of the American 
people. So they hope to launch their so-called ``Republican playbook'' 
for August by which they have told their Members to go home and echo 
the same message and reaffirm their theme--fighting Washington for you.
  They have failed miserably to fight in Washington for you, the 
American people.
  There was terrible mismanagement at the IRS in the Tax Exempt 
Division. I was among the first to call for the Acting Commissioner and 
Lois Lerner to be removed from their duties; but instead of exploiting 
the deep problems at the IRS Tax Exempt Division, instead of exploiting 
them for political purposes, we should be fixing these problems and 
restoring the trust of the American people in that entity, the entity 
to which they voluntarily pay taxes. The Republicans have desperately 
sought to tie their antigovernment message to the President. Let's 
review the Republican approach, some of it.
  Chairman Issa said:

       This was a targeting of the President's political enemies, 
     effectively, and lies about it during the election year so 
     that it wasn't discovered until afterwards.

  Chairman Hal Rogers said:

       Of course, the enemies list out of the White House that IRS 
     was engaged in shutting down or trying to shut down the 
     conservative political viewpoint across the country--an 
     enemies list that rivals those of another President some time 
     ago.

  Totally, totally false.
  The facts were clear that both conservative and liberal groups were 
in the groups set aside by the IRS for further scrutiny, and when that 
became clear, the Republicans shifted to the notion that the 
conservative groups received more scrutiny. When all evidence to date 
has indicated that there was no political motivation involved and that 
no one outside of the IRS was involved, the majority of Republicans 
here shifted to the notion that they don't have all of the documents, 
but the political motivation has been that of the Republicans.
  I want to also, at this time, express our deep disappointment with 
the work of the IG and the audit that he did on the Tax Exempt 
Division. He failed to disclose that both conservative and liberal 
groups were set aside for further scrutiny. He failed to disclose that 
he asked his investigative arm to review 5,500 emails and that they 
found no evidence of political motivation. This flawed report set the 
stage for the Republicans' manipulation of the facts, and now we are 
going to spend months cleaning up that work.
  As to the bills before us today, these three bills, we agree that the 
IRS should stop unnecessary conferences, that the employees should not 
do their work with any political motivation, and that taxpayer rights 
should be codified in the law.
  This bill would impose a moratorium on conferences held by the IRS 
until the inspector general has submitted a report to Congress that 
certifies that all recommendations from the TIGTA audit of the IRS 
conference in Anaheim have been implemented. This audit report included 
nine recommendations, as the majority has now said, for the IRS to 
improve the oversight of conferences.
  I just want the facts to be put on the table here as to what has 
happened by the leadership now of the IRS.
  Three of the nine recommendations have been fully implemented, and it 
is anticipated that the remaining six recommendations will be put in 
place shortly, likely within 3 months. We all agree with the 
recommendations. The IRS has already agreed to those recommendations, 
and importantly, it must be acknowledged it is in the process of 
implementing all nine of these recommendations over the next few 
months.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROSKAM. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
  Mr. Speaker, I suppose that's an endorsement of the bill. It took a 
while. The ranking member took us on a journey, and I appreciate the 
journey, but I think what the ranking member said is that he actually 
supports H.R. 2769, and I appreciate that. I think one of the things 
that may have been persuasive to the ranking member, which was 
persuasive to me, is that part of the report--the summary from the 
inspector general--in which the inspector general, after reviewing all 
of this, says that procedures at the time of the conference did not 
require IRS management to track and report actual conference costs.
  In other words, the IRS wasn't holding to a standard that it holds 
you to, Mr. Speaker, and your constituents or the ranking member's 
constituents or my constituents, because, when my constituents go to 
the IRS and when they say, ``Well, I don't have my receipts,'' or ``I 
don't have `this' or I don't have `that,' '' they get a cold, glassy-
eyed stare from the Internal Revenue Service and no mercy from the 
Internal Revenue Service.
  So I am delighted and I am encouraged, and I very much appreciate the 
ranking member's pointing out the progress that the IRS has made and 
the other areas where the IRS needs to go. Just let me briefly draw the 
body's attention to what these nine actual recommendations are. After 
all, this is not climbing Mount Everest, but they are pretty solid, 
commonsense recommendations:
  It requires the IRS' Chief Financial Officer to verify that 
appropriate information is being tracked to ensure actual costs of the 
conferences can be established and audited. That's what I referenced a 
minute ago;
  It implements a policy to determine whether training sessions held at 
the conference qualify for continuing professional education credits 
for CPA employees;
  It sets standards for the site of a conference. The report recommends 
against nongovernmental facilities unless the benefits will offset 
increased expenditures and spending will not be seen as unnecessary by 
the public;
  It implements procedures to identify when nongovernment event 
planners are used, how much they are paid and how they are being 
selected;
  It directs the Chief Financial Officer to establish standards 
regarding planning trips for conferences;
  It outlines the necessity for produced videos at conferences in 
response to the claim that the IRS spent over $50,000 on video skits;
  It sets standards on whether hotel room upgrades should be allowed;
  It requires the submission of W-2 tax forms for local IRS employees 
who were reimbursed for staying overnight at conferences--just a little 
irony there if you're tracking with me, Mr. Speaker;
  Finally, it recommends that the CFO establish procedures to determine 
the necessity of an exhibitor's hall, promotional items, and other 
significant costs.
  Common sense. Thoughtful. It's meant to restore the public's 
confidence in the Internal Revenue Service, and it is my hope that it 
is widely supported on both sides of the aisle today.
  I reserve the balance of my time.
  Mr. LEVIN. Might I ask the gentleman, are you ready to close?
  Mr. ROSKAM. I am.
  Mr. LEVIN. I yield myself the balance of my time.
  Mr. Speaker, I think all of the recommendations make sense. We 
Democrats--throughout our Caucus and the President, all of us--joined 
in making clear what we thought of the mismanagement within the IRS and 
what we thought about the abuse of conferences.
  As I said before, with this leadership of IRS appointed by the 
President, all of these recommendations either have been implemented or 
are in the process of being implemented. So, before the end of the 
year--I think well before it--this one problem--and there are others--
will be resolved. I support this bill.
  I yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. ROSKAM. Mr. Speaker, I urge an ``aye'' vote on H.R. 2769, and I 
yield back the balance of my time.
  Mr. CRENSHAW. Mr. Speaker, as the Chairman of the Appropriations 
Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, my 
Subcommittee directly oversees the Internal Revenue Service's budget. 
And for the past 6 months now I have witnessed an arrogant and absolute 
abuse of power. Targeting groups based on their names and political 
beliefs is both chilling and outrageous regardless of their political 
affiliation. And then

[[Page H5211]]

finding out of the flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars on conferences 
and videos, is just downright disheartening.
  Two weeks ago my Subcommittee Marked-up our Fiscal Year 2014 
Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill in the 
full Appropriations Committee. In my mark, I include this exact 
language of H.R. 2769, the ``Stop Playing on Citizen's Cash Act''--
common sense legislation prohibiting conferences until the IRS 
implement all of the recommendations from the Treasury Inspector 
General for Tax Administration.
  As the agency tasked with processing over 237 million tax returns 
that result in the collection of $2.5 trillion in taxes and $373 
billion in refunds annually you would think they would have safeguards 
in place that treats all Americans equal and the hard-earned taxpayer 
dollars they send to Washington spent wisely, effectively and legally. 
This however, is not the case.
  Congress appropriates more than $10 billion in hard-earned taxpayer 
dollars each year for IRS operations. Before we spend one more dime on 
the IRS, we need to know how it spends the money it already receives. 
And, we need to know what safeguards the IRS plans to have in place to 
make sure the funds are used in a legal and appropriate way.
  These conferences and videos were a flagrant waste of taxpayer 
dollars. And, what is most disconcerting, the money came in part from 
unused funds from the IRS enforcement budget--at a time when they were 
asking for even more funding.
  Nonetheless, we need to fund this agency so that it can accurately 
answer questions from individuals and businesses about tax issues, 
produce tax forms and instructions that promote compliance, process tax 
returns in a timely manner, and investigate criminals committing tax 
fraud.
  However, we cannot in good conscience provide taxpayer dollars that 
are used to abuse the rights of American citizens, nor can we provide 
dollars that are wasted in such a flagrant manner as we have 
discovered.
  Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlemen from Illinois for bringing 
forward this common sense legislation to the floor; a step in the right 
direction of accountability for an agency that receives such a large 
appropriation of taxpayer dollars.
  But I also hope we can bring forward the Fiscal Year 2014 Financial 
Services and General Government Appropriations bill to the floor for 
consideration. It is time to have a serious debate on ways to increase 
transparency and bring accountability to many agencies that have had a 
history of wasteful spending.
  Just last year we heard of the GSA scandal at their Las Vegas 
conference. This year we included instructions to make the GSA more 
transparent by requiring additional reporting, separating 
administrative funds from programmatic funds, and encouraging the 
better utilization of their space inventory.
  In addition, we make regulators such as the FCC and FTC do more with 
less. And in order to increase the transparency and accountability of 
agencies created by Dodd-Frank, the bill makes the Consumer Financial 
Protection Bureau subject to the appropriations process.
  I strongly encourage my colleagues to vote in favor of H.R. 2769 on 
the floor today. A voluntary tax system depends on a fair and impartial 
collection process because, as Chief Justice Marshall said, the power 
to tax is the power to destroy.
  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the 
gentleman from Illinois (Mr. Roskam) that the House suspend the rules 
and pass the bill, H.R. 2769, as amended.
  The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the 
rules were suspended and the bill, as amended, was passed.
  A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.

                          ____________________