[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 60 (Tuesday, April 19, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H1827-H1830]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
PROHIBITING THE USE OF FUNDS BY INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE TO TARGET
CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES
Mrs. NOEM. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill
(H.R. 4903) to prohibit the use of funds by Internal Revenue Service to
target citizens of the United States for exercising any right
guaranteed under the First Amendment to the Constitution of the United
States.
The Clerk read the title of the bill.
The text of the bill is as follows:
H.R. 4903
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of
the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. PROHIBITION ON TARGETING BY THE INTERNAL REVENUE
SERVICE BASED ON THE EXERCISE OF FIRST
AMENDMENT RIGHTS.
None of the funds made available under any Act may be used
by the Internal Revenue Service to target citizens of the
United States for exercising any right guaranteed under the
First Amendment to the Constitution of the United States.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursuant to the rule, the gentlewoman from
South Dakota (Mrs. Noem) and the gentleman from Michigan (Mr. Levin)
each will control 20 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from South Dakota.
General Leave
Mrs. NOEM. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may
have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and to
include any extraneous material on H.R. 4903 currently under
consideration.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the
gentlewoman from South Dakota?
There was no objection.
Mrs. NOEM. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I rise today, Mr. Speaker, in strong support of H.R. 4903, and I
thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Allen) for introducing the bill.
We live in a Nation that is founded on the idea of free speech. The
government does not control our media. It does not control who we
decide to associate with. We don't live in a place where we should have
to think twice before supporting a group that aligns with their views
or making their political beliefs known to others.
[[Page H1828]]
The heavy hand of the Federal Government should not control how an
American shares their views. Yet, that is just what happened to nearly
300 groups that applied for tax-exempt status between 2010 and 2012.
These organizations were small gatherings of like-minded people who
wanted to discuss their views and educate the public about those views.
They filled out the necessary IRS paperwork to become tax exempt, as it
is required by the law.
But months and even years after they applied, after answering
intrusive questions, after providing mountains of documents, after
having their activities monitored by IRS agents, after all of this,
many of them still sat in IRS limbo.
During the investigation, the Ways and Means Committee staff reviewed
upwards of 1 million documents and interviewed dozens of IRS and
Treasury officials. This exhaustive, years-long investigation yielded
the information that we now know, that 298 applications for tax-exempt
status were put on hold. Over 80 percent of them were right-leaning and
only 10 percent were left-leaning.
Thanks to the committee's investigation, we know that the former head
of the IRS division that governs tax-exempt groups, Lois Lerner, was
told that frontline agents noticed an uptick in groups referring to
themselves with phrases like Tea Party. She said the Tea Party matter
was very dangerous and suggested how to deny those applications.
We know she inserted herself into the supposedly nonbiased procedures
that she had created. She then bypassed even those procedures and
singled out certain taxpayers for additional scrutiny and audit.
We also know that the IRS bureaucracy in Washington went as far as
setting up a surveillance program called a review of operations. In
other words, an IRS unit in Dallas would monitor a group's activity,
including their Internet postings, trying to build a case for an audit.
Over 80 percent of the groups that were flagged for this surveillance
were right-leaning and, of the groups actually selected for the audit,
Mr. Speaker, 100 percent of them were right-leaning.
When concerns about this activity reached Congress, my colleagues at
Ways and Means asked multiple members of the IRS leadership about it.
They assured the committee that all was well. We now know what was
really going on.
When Lois Lerner finally admitted in 2013 that the IRS had targeted
taxpayers based on their political beliefs, the President went on
national television and promised to help Congress get to the bottom of
the situation. He later changed his tune and blamed the targeting on a
few rogue IRS agents.
If the Ways and Means investigation showed us anything, it is that
the wrongdoing happened nowhere else but in Washington, D.C., and that
the IRS employees on the front lines were not to blame.
We must make sure that political targeting like this never happens
again. By passing this bill to reaffirm American taxpayers' First
Amendment rights, we take a step toward that goal.
I strongly urge my colleagues to support this bill.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. LEVIN. I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Speaker, what is being prohibited here is already prohibited. It
is prohibited in the law. It is prohibited by law that we passed in
1998.
It says that there shall not be action as to any taxpayer, taxpayer
representative, or other employee of the IRS in violation of any right
under the Constitution of the United States.
So maybe this bill is an effort to bring back the long discussion we
had about the IRS procedures. I don't think this is the time to
relitigate it.
I was there and you weren't, if I might say so. I thought maybe you
would bring it up; so, I did go back to what happened.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair would like to remind the gentleman
to direct his remarks to the Chair.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I will do that.
I decided to go back to 2013 to the hearing of Ways and Means. After
the inspector general gave his report--this is May 17, 2013--this is
what I asked the inspector general: Did you find any evidence of
political motivation in the selection of the tax-exemption
applications?
And the inspector said: We did not, sir.
Look, we could spend hours talking about what has happened to the
rules regarding 501(c)(4)'s in this country. We could go back and
discuss the abuse of the 501(c)(4) provisions. We could go back and
look at how much political money is being poured into this process by
501(c)(4)'s.
We could go back and discuss what was the original language in the
501(c)(4) legislation that no political money could be used. Instead,
it was interpreted decades ago that it relates to the majority must not
be.
So what has happened is that 501(c)(4)'s--by the way, most of them
are rightwing organizations, most of them.
Most of the money has come from rightwing organizations using the
mask of 501(c)(4)'s to essentially, I think, pollute the democratic
processes in this country. We shouldn't really be doing that. You
raised it; so, I am responding.
What this bill does is simply say that the constitutional rights
should essentially prevail, and I fully agree. It is already in the
1998 legislation. So let's move on. Let's not use vehicles for
political purposes.
Look, we have so much more we could be doing today in terms of tax
legislation. We have legislation relating to inversions. A number of us
have introduced it.
We complain that the executive uses too much power. They have used
their power relating to inversions up to, I think, a legitimate point
and have said to us in the Congress that we need to go further--the
Congress does--to address the problem of inversions in this country.
Essentially, we do nothing. We do nothing about this.
There was talk earlier today about tax reform. We have heard this
talking endlessly, and there is no product. There is no product
whatsoever.
So this bill simply restates what is already in the 1998 law which we
completely, completely embrace. So I suggest we just get on with our
business and try to do real business.
I reserve the balance of my time.
Mrs. NOEM. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from
Georgia (Mr. Allen).
Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentlewoman from South Dakota.
Yesterday marked the deadline for all Americans to file their 2015
taxes, and Americans from all walks of life disclosed some of their
most private information and handed over their hard-earned dollars to
the government.
With this in mind, last week I was proud to introduce legislation
prohibiting the use of funds by the IRS to target citizens for
exercising their First Amendment rights. Americans have seen Federal
agencies abuse their power, and the IRS is one of the worst offenders.
The IRS has specifically targeted conservative groups simply for
being conservative. This is a direct violation of the First Amendment.
My bill preserves the integrity of the First Amendment by ensuring
its protections are never compromised by unelected Federal bureaucrats.
Specifically, H.R. 4903 protects Americans by prohibiting use of
funds by the IRS and its rogue bureaucrats to carry out government
abuse on citizens for exercising their constitutional rights. I can
think of nothing more despicable than persecution for beliefs.
Tax day is stressful enough with the Tax Code we have in place. The
IRS has no business in striking fear into the hearts of Americans for
expressing their strongly held beliefs and convictions.
The Constitution is the law of the land, whether the IRS likes it or
not. We must hold the IRS and its unelected bureaucrats accountable,
especially because they have overstepped their constitutional bounds
before, as my colleague pointed out. My colleague on the other side may
dispute our legislation, but they can't dispute the facts, Mr. Speaker.
My colleagues serving on the Oversight and Government Reform
committee and the Ways and Means Committee have been investigating the
[[Page H1829]]
IRS' unlawful targeting of conservative groups since 2012. They were
dogged in their pursuit of justice for every American's fundamental
right, the freedom of speech.
The investigation revealed that, as a result of the Supreme Court's
decision in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, democratic
leadership pressured IRS bureaucrats to fix the problem by taking an
aggressive stance against political speech by tax-exempt entities.
{time} 1445
My colleagues also found clear evidence and testimony that the Tea
Party and other conservative organizations were targeted for enhanced
scrutiny because their organizations' names reflected their
conservative beliefs.
For 27 months, from February 2010 until May 2012, the IRS
systematically targeted conservative tax-exempt applicants for
additional scrutiny and delay. This is an egregious violation of the
First Amendment rights of all Americans.
The leader of this scheme was Lois Lerner, an IRS official at the
time, as was mentioned.
In April 2010, a sensitive case report on the targeted Tea Party
groups is shared with Lerner, when she first learned of a spike in Tea
Party applications.
In June and July of 2011, Lerner is briefed that employees are using
such terms as ``Tea Party,'' ``patriots,'' ``9/12 Project,''
``government spending,'' ``government debt,'' ``taxes,'' and ``make
America a better place to live'' to flag applications.
Lerner, after learning about such terms, tells the Cincinnati office
to revise its guidelines for flagging applications. The guidance is
expanded to include ``organizations involved with political lobbying or
advocacy for exemption under 501(c)(3) or 501(c)(4).''
Also, Lois Lerner's hard drive supposedly crashed that June, erasing
2 years worth of emails. How convenient was that?
In March 2012, Darrell Issa, then-chairman of the Committee on House
Oversight and Government Reform, expressed concern to the IRS inspector
general that Tea Party groups were being targeted by the IRS. Doug
Shulman, IRS Commissioner at the time, vehemently denied on the record
to Congress that the agency was targeting conservative groups.
In May 2013, Lois Lerner testified before the House Committee on
Oversight and Government Reform. She proclaimed her innocence before
invoking her Fifth Amendment right and refusing to answer questions
from lawmakers. For 2 more years, the IRS circumvented Congress'
investigations.
Lois Lerner, time and time again, refused to cooperate with Congress
in its investigation of targeting conservative groups and, instead, hid
behind the Fifth Amendment.
Before I was elected to Congress, my colleagues in the House of
Representatives rightly voted to hold Lois Lerner in contempt of
Congress for her refusal to cooperate with ongoing investigations into
the agency's special targeting of groups with ``Tea Party'' or
``patriot'' in their names that were seeking tax-exempt status.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The time of the gentleman has expired.
Mrs. NOEM. Mr. Speaker, I yield an additional 1 minute to the
gentleman from Georgia.
Mr. ALLEN. Mr. Speaker, a decision to hold Lois Lerner in contempt of
Congress was not taken lightly. Not surprisingly, the Obama
administration's Department of Justice unilaterally decided not to
prosecute Lois Lerner for her unlawful actions.
However, Congress vowed to continue to find answers and hold the IRS
accountable for its actions. This is why I stand before you today. I
refuse to allow another American to be persecuted and targeted by IRS
bureaucrats for expressing their First Amendment rights, no matter
their beliefs.
The House holds the power of the purse. As such, it is within our
authority to gut the IRS where it hurts the most: their use of hard-
earned tax dollars.
H.R. 4903 prohibits the IRS from using funds made available by any
law to target citizens for exercising their First Amendment rights.
Today I urge my colleagues to stand with me to ensure that the IRS no
longer oversteps its authority and supports the God-given
constitutional rights of every American. No American should fear
persecution from the government for expressing his or her strongly held
beliefs and conviction.
Please join me in supporting H.R. 4903.
Mr. LEVIN. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time to
close.
I thought maybe this bill was an excuse to try to relitigate this
issue. I was among the first who suggested that Lois Lerner be relieved
of her duties. I did so because of, I thought, the incompetent way it
was handled, but not because there was any evidence of political
motivation.
Again, I want to go back to the question I asked the inspector
general in 2013: ``Did you find any evidence of political motivation in
the selection of the tax-exemption applications?''
Mr. George said: ``We did not, sir.''
So what has happened here is essentially getting up and reading a
one-sided, often erroneous text, often conclusions that are not at all
based on fact.
We really should not be relitigating this today. We should be acting
on tax legislation, on the budget, and other necessary issues that face
the people of this country.
I hope no one thinks that the passage of this bill will in any way
imply on the part of any of us who have been involved with this on the
Democratic side that there is any substance to the attack that has been
launched here on the IRS and conclusions that have been reached that
are not founded on fact.
It is kind of sad. The 1998 law says no IRS employee may violate the
constitutional rights of a taxpayer. That is absolutely clear. It is
absolutely clear.
So with this, I want to express my regret that this bill is being
used as a vehicle for strictly political purposes. Let's abide by the
Constitution and the 1998 law. Let's also abide by the responsibilities
of this Congress, and that is to act on critical legislation and not
use a bill as a vehicle to try to go over once and once again a case
where there is deep difference of opinion and often deep misstatement
of facts.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mrs. NOEM. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself the balance of my time.
Mr. Speaker, let's not forget that what we are doing here today is
ensuring that the IRS will never target Americans based on their
political beliefs, on their First Amendment rights. This bill will just
make sure that doesn't happen. Regardless of what the past was--and
what is wonderful about the past and being at congressional hearings
and taking part in them and serving on a committee or not serving on a
committee is that they are public and that they are open, and that you
can ask questions, and the general public at home can hear the answers
that are given there.
Let me remind you that in 2013, Lois Lerner admitted that the IRS had
targeted taxpayers based on their political beliefs. She said that the
Tea Party matter was very dangerous. She suggested how to deny the
applications. We know for a fact that she inserted herself into the
supposedly unbiased processes that she had created and then bypassed
even these procedures and singled out certain taxpayers for additional
scrutiny and audit.
Do we think, really, that it was just a fluke that 100 percent of the
audits and the groups that were selected for audit were right-leaning?
I don't believe so, sir.
While that investigation may be over, it is still important to have
discussions like this to reassure the taxpayers back home that this
type of targeting will never happen, that we have legislation before us
today that will stop some of the abuses that may have happened in the
past and ensure that they won't happen in the future. That is why I am
going to urge my colleagues to support the bill.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.
The SPEAKER pro tempore. The question is on the motion offered by the
gentlewoman from South Dakota (Mrs. Noem) that the House suspend the
rules and pass the bill, H.R. 4903.
The question was taken; and (two-thirds being in the affirmative) the
rules were suspended and the bill was passed.
[[Page H1830]]
A motion to reconsider was laid on the table.
____________________