[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 211 (Tuesday, December 7, 2021)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8946-S8947]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                    Private Debt Collection Program

  Madam President, now on another matter, I want to refer to the debate 
that is going on behind the scenes here as Democrats try to put 
together a bill that they would call the Build Back Better bill. I call 
it the Blue State Billionaire Bailout. It comes from that part that 
they are talking about increasing all of the IRS agents by a massive 
amount of people to supposedly bring in x number more dollars into the 
Federal Treasury. There is some debate about how much it will bring in.
  But I want to talk about a program that hires more agents, pays for 
more agents, and brings in more money, and that is the Private Debt 
Collection Program.
  Going back to what is being talked about here in the Senate behind 
closed doors in the Democratic Party to put this Blue State Billionaire 
Bailout bill together, I go to December 1, Washington Post, Secretary 
of Treasury Janet Yellen. The Post gave her two Pinocchios for claiming 
that the bloated Blue State Billionaire Bailout package is fully paid 
for, or, as she would say, the Build Back Better bill is fully paid 
for.
  Much of the Post's column focuses on how much revenue Democrats' 
proposed increase in the IRS enforcement budget would generate. The 
White House and the Congressional Budget Office have offered wildly, 
wildly different estimates of what that proposal would do. The estimate 
provided by CBO--that is Congress's official scorekeeper--is hundreds 
of billions less than the number provided by the White House.
  I am noting this disagreement to highlight an existing program that 
is bringing in additional revenue without Congress spending 1 dollar 
more. I am speaking about, as I previously said, the Private Debt 
Collection Program.
  Recently, the IRS provided an update of this program's enforcement 
and performance for fiscal year 2021. It shows the program is thriving 
and bringing in more and more revenue on an annual basis.
  Maybe I should give a personal comment on why this program is 
important to me, because I think I was chairman of the Finance 
Committee--I forget whether it was 2003 through 2006--during that 
period of time that we set this program up.
  This update on the latest statistics shows that this program, the 
Private Debt Collection Program, resulted in net revenue to the 
Treasury of more than $1 billion in fiscal year 2021. This is a real 
increase of around 129 percent over net revenue in fiscal year 2020 of 
around $459 million. That 2020 increase was on top of a more than 100 
percent increase in net revenue over the year 2019.
  These numbers show that the longer the Private Debt Collection 
Program operates, the more it recovers to the Federal Treasury. The 
incredible numbers of fiscal year 2021 also reflect several months 
where the IRS did not provide new cases to the private debt collection 
company, and without cases being given to these private debt 
collectors, you aren't going to get more revenue.
  In a previous speech, I said that I was going to hold the IRS 
Commissioner responsible to his promise to provide additional cases to 
the collection companies by September 27.
  And, by the way, I also ought to make very clear that this Private 
Debt Collection program only goes after taxpayers that aren't paying 
and that the IRS has given up on collecting money from.
  So Commissioner Rettig has kept his promise. I understand that 
additional collection cases were provided. I commend Commissioner 
Rettig for following through on his promise to me and for his continued 
support of this very worthwhile program.
  The Private Debt Collection program also does more than just bring in 
revenue into the Treasury. It also pays for the IRS to hire special 
compliance personnel who collect unpaid debts that are owed to the 
government. Those amounts are reflected in the total fiscal year 
numbers that I gave earlier. I understand that the program was also so 
successful that the IRS can now hire with this additional revenue up to 
400 more employees.
  Right now, the Senate is wrangling over how much revenue might be 
collected if you increase the budget of the IRS and hire thousands of 
additional IRS personnel. So, meanwhile, as I have shown, we currently 
have a program that is already bringing in more money year over year, 
while paying for additional IRS personnel.
  I appreciate Commissioner Rettig's support of this program, and look 
forward to reporting to my colleagues on his continued success.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Murphy). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.
  The Senator from Texas.

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