[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 177 (Wednesday, November 16, 2022)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6742-S6743]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
By Mr. THUNE (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Barrasso, Mr. Braun,
Mr. Burr, Mr. Cassidy, Mr. Cornyn, Mr. Crapo, Mr. Daines, Mr.
Lankford, Mr. Portman, Mr. Toomey, Mr. Young, Mr. Sasse, and
Mr. Scott of South Carolina):
S. 5100. A bill to provide accountability for funding provided to the
Internal Revenue Service and the Department of Treasury under Public
Law 117-169; to the Committee on Finance.
Mr. THUNE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of
the bill be printed in the Record.
There being no objection, the text of the bill was ordered to be
printed in the Record, as follows:
S. 5100
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 ``IRS Funding Accountability
Act''.
SEC. 2. ANNUAL COMPREHENSIVE SPENDING PLAN FOR INCREASED
INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE RESOURCES.
(a) Limitation on Funding.--
(1) Initial plan.--
(A) In general.--None of the funds described in paragraph
(3) may be obligated during the period--
(i) beginning on the date of the enactment of this Act; and
(ii) ending on the date that is 60 days after the spending
plan described in subsection (b)(1)(A) has been submitted.
(B) Additional moratorium.--If Congress enacts a joint
resolution of disapproval described in subsection (c) with
respect to the Internal Revenue Service spending plan before
the date described in subparagraph (A)(ii), then--
(i) the Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall submit a new
spending plan under subsection (b)(1)(A); and
(ii) the period described in subparagraph (A) shall not end
before the date that is 60 days after such new spending plan
is submitted.
(2) Subsequent submissions.--
(A) In general.--None of the funds described in paragraph
(3) may be obligated during any period--
(i) beginning on the date Congress has enacted a joint
resolution of disapproval under subsection (c) with respect
to any spending plan described in subsection (b)(1)(B); and
(ii) ending on the date that is 60 days after the date on
which the Commissioner of Internal Revenue has submitted a
new spending plan under such subsection.
(B) Additional moratorium.--If Congress enacts a joint
resolution of disapproval described in subsection (c) with
respect to any new spending plan submitted under subparagraph
(A)(ii) before the date that is 60 days after the date on
which such new spending plan has been submitted, then--
(i) the Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall submit an
additional new spending plan under subsection (b)(1)(B); and
(ii) the period described in subparagraph (A) shall not end
before the date that is 60 days after such additional new
spending plan is submitted.
(3) Funds described.--The funds described in this paragraph
are the following:
(A) Any funds made available under clauses (ii), (iii), or
(iv) of section 10301(1)(A) of Public Law 117-169.
(B) Any funds made available under section 10301(1)(A)(i)
of Public Law 117-169 other than funds used for the following
purposes:
(i) Eliminating any correspondence or return processing
backlog.
(ii) Reducing call wait times for taxpayers and tax
professionals.
(b) Annual Comprehensive Spending Plan.--
(1) In general.--
(A) Initial plan.--Not later than 60 days after the date of
the enactment of this Act, the Commissioner of Internal
Revenue shall submit to the appropriate Congressional
committees a spending plan described in paragraph (2).
(B) Subsequent submissions.--
(i) In general.--For each fiscal year beginning after the
plan described in subparagraph (A) is submitted and ending
with fiscal year 2031, the Commissioner of Internal Revenue
shall submit to the appropriate Congressional committees a
spending plan described in paragraph (2) on the date that the
President submits the budget required under section 1105(a)
of title 31, United States Code.
(ii) Reduction in appropriation.--
(I) In general.--In the case of any failure to submit a
plan required under clause (i) by the date that is 7 days
after the date the plan is required to be submitted und, the
amounts made available under section 10301(1)(A)(ii) of
Public Law 117-169 shall be reduced by $10,000,000 for each
day after such required date that report has not been
submitted.
(II) Required date.--For purposes of this clause, the term
``required date'' means, with respect to any plan required
under this subparagraph, the date that is 7 days after such
plan is required to be submitted.
(2) Spending plan.--
(A) In general.--A spending plan described in this
subparagraph is a plan that--
(i) details how the funds appropriated under section
10301(1) of Public Law 117-169 will be spent over--
(I) the period consisting of the current fiscal year and
the next 4 fiscal years ending before fiscal year 2032; and
(II) the period of consisting of the current fiscal year
through the fiscal year ending with fiscal year 2031 (if such
period includes any period not described in subclause (I));
(ii) contains the information described in subparagraph
(B);
(iii) has been reviewed by--
(I) the Internal Revenue Service Advisory Council;
(II) the Comptroller of the United States;
(III) the National Taxpayer Advocate; and
(IV) the Director of the Office of Management and Budget;
and
(iv) has been approved by the officers or entities
described in subclauses (II) and (IV) of clause (iii).
(B) Plan contents.--The information described in this
paragraph is the following:
(i) A detailed explanation of the plan, including--
(I) costs and results to date, actual expenditures of the
prior fiscal year, actual and expected expenditures of the
current fiscal year, upcoming deliverables and expected
costs, and total expenditures;
(II) clearly defined objectives, timelines, and metrics for
quantitatively measuring the plan's annual progress,
including with respect to measuring improvements in taxpayer
services, revenue collection, information technology,
cybersecurity, and taxpayer data protections; and
(III) a description of any differences between metrics
described in subclause (II) and corresponding metrics used by
the National Taxpayer Advocate, the Comptroller General of
the United States, and Treasury Inspector General for Tax
Administration.
(ii) A detailed analysis of the performance of the Internal
Revenue Service with respect to the delivery of taxpayer
services, including--
(I) the Level of Service (LOS) of phone lines (as a percent
of phone calls answered by an Internal Revenue Service
employee, not to include courtesy disconnects or automated
call backs);
(II) the median and average wait time to speak to a
representative of the Internal Revenue Service;
(III) the amount of unprocessed taxpayer correspondence,
including tax returns, responses to Internal Revenue Service
notices, tax payments, and other similar types of
correspondence; and
(IV) the median and average length of time for processing
the items described in subclause (III) and processing refund
claims.
(iii) An analysis identifying any increase or decrease in
total annual audits and annual audit rates by income group
for the period beginning in 2018 and ending with the year the
report is submitted. Such analysis shall include a detailed
description of what constitutes an ``audit'' by the Internal
Revenue Service, and if the definition of an ``audit'' used
by the Internal Revenue Service differs from the definition
used by the National Taxpayer Advocate, the Comptroller
General of the United States, or the Treasury Inspector
General for Tax Administration, there shall also be included
an analysis using such divergent definition.
(iv) A categorizing of the number of audits for each year
in the analysis described in clause (iv) which were--
(I) correspondence audits;
(II) office audits;
(III) field audits;
(IV) audits under the Tax Compliance Measurement Program
(TCMP); and
(V) other audits.
(v) A description of all taxpayer compliance actions or
initiatives undertaken using funding appropriated under
section 10301(1)(A) of Public Law 117-169 that do not rise to
the level of an audit, with each action broken out by the
total number of such actions undertaken for each income group
and as a percentage of taxpayers in each income group.
(vi) An explanation of any unresolved or outstanding
recommendations made by the Government Accountability Office
and Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration
pertaining to taxpayer-data privacy protections, Internal
Revenue Service taxpayer services, and Internal Revenue
Service technology modernization efforts that are addressed
by the plan and a description of how they are addressed.
(vii) If such plan does not address any recommendations
identified by Government Accountability Office and Treasury
Inspector General for Tax Administration as ``high risk'' or
``priority'', an explanation of why such recommendations are
not addressed in the plan.
(3) Testimony of relevant officials.--Not later than 30
days after any spending plan described in paragraph (2) has
been submitted, the Secretary of the Treasury and the
Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall testify in person
before any of the appropriate Congressional committees that
request their testimony with respect to such spending plan.
(4) Requirement to notify of excess spending.--The
Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall immediately notify the
appropriate Congressional committees if actual obligations
and expenditures for any account for any period for which
projections are made in a plan submitted under paragraph
[[Page S6743]]
(2) exceed the amount of obligations and expenditures
projected for such account in such plan by 5 percent or more.
(c) Joint Resolution of Disapproval of the IRS
Comprehensive Spending Plan.--
(1) In general.--For purposes of this section, the term
``joint resolution of disapproval of the IRS comprehensive
spending plan'' means only a joint resolution introduced in
the period beginning on the date on which a spending plan
submitted pursuant to subsection (b)(1)(A) is received by the
appropriate Congressional committees and ending 60 days
thereafter (excluding days either House of Congress is
adjourned for more than 3 days during a session of Congress),
the matter after the resolving clause of which is as follows:
"That Congress disapproves the plan submitted on ____ by the
Internal Revenue Service relating to the comprehensive
spending plan under section 2(b)(1) of the IRS Funding
Accountability Act with respect to fiscal year ___.". (The
blank spaces being appropriately filled in).
(2) Application of congressional review act disapproval
procedures.--
(A) In general.--The rules of section 802 of title 5,
United States Code, shall apply to a joint resolution of
disapproval of the IRS comprehensive spending plan in the
same manner as such rules apply to a joint resolution
described in subsection (a) of such section.
(B) Exercise of rulemaking authority.--This section is
enacted by Congress--
(i) as an exercise of the rulemaking power of the Senate
and House of Representatives, respectively, and as such it is
deemed a part of the rules of each House, respectively, but
applicable only with respect to the procedure to be followed
in that House in the case of a joint resolution of
disapproval of the IRS comprehensive spending plan described
in paragraph (1), and it supersedes other rules only to the
extent that it is inconsistent with such rules; and
(ii) with full recognition of the constitutional right of
either House to change the rules (so far as relating to the
procedure of that House) at any time, in the same manner, and
to the same extent as in the case of any other rule of that
House.
SEC. 3. QUARTERLY REPORTS.
(a) Internal Revenue Service.--
(1) In general.--Not later than the last day of each
calendar quarter beginning during the applicable period, the
Commissioner of Internal Revenue shall submit to the
appropriate Congressional committees a report on any
expenditures and obligations of funds appropriated under
section 10301(1) of Public Law 117-169.
(2) Matters included.--The report provided under paragraph
(1) shall include the following:
(A) A plain language description of the specific actions
taken by the Commissioner of Internal Revenue utilizing any
funds appropriated under section 10301(1) of Public Law 117-
169.
(B) The obligations and expenditures during the quarter of
funds appropriated under section 10301(1) of Public Law 117-
169 and the expected expenditure of such funds in the
subsequent quarter, including a comparison of obligations and
expenditures between amounts spent for taxpayers services and
amounts spent for examinations and collections by each
division or office of the Internal Revenue Service, including
the Large Business and International Division, the Small
Business/Self Employed Division, the Tax-Exempt and
Government Entities Division, the Wage and Investment
Division, the Criminal Investigation Office, the
Whistleblower Office, and the Office of the Taxpayer
Advocate.
(C) A description of any new full-time or full-time
equivalent (FTE) employees, contractors, or other staff hired
by the Internal Revenue Service, including the number of new
hires, the primary function or activity type of each new
hire, and the specific Division or Office to which each new
hire is tasked.
(D) The number of new employees that have passed a security
clearance compared to the number of new employees hired to a
position requiring a security clearance, along with an
indication of whether any new employee that has not passed a
security clearance has access to taxpayer return information
(as defined by section 6103(b)(2) of the Internal Revenue
Code of 1986).
(E) A detailed description of any violation of the fair tax
collection practices described in section 6304 of the
Internal Revenue Code of 1986 by any employees, contractors,
or other staff described in subparagraph (C) (including
violations tracked in Automated Labor and Employee Relations
Tracking System (ALERTS) of the Human Capital Office of the
Internal Revenue Service).
(F) The status of recommendations provided by the
Government Accountability Office and Treasury Inspector
General for Tax Administration identified as being addressed
by the plan, including whether they have been resolved, are
in progress, or open (including the expected date of
completion for any recommendations identified as in progress
or open).
(3) Reduction in appropriation.--In the case of any failure
to submit a report required under paragraph (1) by the
required date, the amounts made available under section
10301(1)(A)(ii) of Public Law 117-169 shall be reduced by
$1,000,000 for each day after such required date that report
has not been submitted.
(b) Department of Treasury.--
(1) In general.--Not later than the last day of each
calendar quarter beginning during the applicable period, the
Secretary of the Treasury shall submit to the appropriate
Congressional committees a report containing the following
information:
(A) A plain-language description of the actions taken by
the Secretary of the Treasury utilizing any funds
appropriated under paragraph (1), (3), or (5)of section 10301
of Public Law 117-169. Any action which is described in a
report made under subsection (a) may be described by
reference to the action in such report.
(B) A detailed description of the specific purposes to
which the funds appropriated under section 10301(3) of Public
Law 117-169 has been (or is expected to be) obligated.
(C) A description of any new full-time or full-time
equivalent (FTE) employees, contractors, or other staff hired
by the Secretary utilizing funds appropriated under section
10301 of Public Law 117-169, including the number of new
hires and whether the duties of each new hire includes any
functions related to the Internal Revenue Service (including
implementation of tax policies, enforcement, regulations,
research, press or communications, or other purposes).
(D) A detailed description and explanation of any changes
to the most recent Priority Guidance Plan of the Department
of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service involving
guidance projects that utilize any funds appropriated under
section 10301 of Public Law 117-169 or which are related to
the implementation of any provision of or amendment made by
such Public Law.
(E) A description of any new initiatives planned to be
undertaken by the Department of the Treasury within the
existing or subsequent fiscal year which will (or may)
utilize funds appropriated under section 10301 of Public Law
117-169.
(2) Reduction in appropriation.--In the case of any failure
to submit a report required under paragraph (1) by the
required date--
(A) the amounts made available under paragraphs (3) of
section 10301 of Public Law 117-169 shall be reduced by
$666,667 for each day after such required date that report
has not been submitted, and
(B) the amounts made available under paragraphs (5) of
section 10301 of Public Law 117-169 shall be reduced by
$333,333 for each day after such required date that report
has not been submitted, and
(c) Definitions.--For purposes of this section--
(1) Applicable period.--The term ``applicable period''
means the period beginning after the date the report under
subparagraph (A) is due and ending on September 30, 2031.
(2) Required date.--The term ``required date'' means, with
respect to any report required to be submitted under
subsection (a) or (b), the date that is 7 days after the date
the report is required to be submitted.
SEC. 4. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.
For purposes of this Act, the term ``appropriate
Congressional committees'' means--
(1) the Committee on Finance of the Senate;
(2) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
(3) the Committee on Ways and Means of the House of
Representatives; and
(4) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives.
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