[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 5]
[House]
[Page 6940]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              ACCOUNTABILITY AND CONSEQUENCES FOR THE IRS

  (Mr. YODER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. YODER. Madam Speaker, I stand today with Americans rightfully 
outraged and stunned that their government has admitted to harassing 
Americans with audits and paperwork simply based upon their political 
beliefs.
  The American people expect the institutions of their government at 
their most basic, most simple levels to be fair. They expect not to be 
discriminated against or targeted based on their beliefs--religious, 
political, or otherwise.
  But, Madam Speaker, we've learned over the past days about gross 
violations of our constitutional rights, an appalling overreach by the 
Internal Revenue Service which has admitted to targeting certain 
Americans for heightened tax scrutiny and additional burdensome and 
costly audits based solely on political affiliations. These anti-
American violations strike at the heart of our free and democratic 
society and they confirm the worst fears that many Americans have about 
their government. What makes matters worse is Congress was misled into 
believing that this wasn't happening.
  Madam Speaker, we must get to the bottom of these very serious 
admissions by the IRS. There must be accountability and consequences 
for those involved, and we must ensure that this never happens again.

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