[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 162 (2016), Part 4]
[House]
[Page 4527]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




              ENSURING INTEGRITY IN THE IRS WORKFORCE ACT

  (Mr. GIBBS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. GIBBS. Mr. Speaker, with tax day yesterday and millions of 
Americans feeling the sting of a burdensome government agency, the 
House will focus its efforts on giving taxpayers relief from the 
bureaucratic mess known as the IRS.
  When the scandal broke that the IRS improperly targeted conservative 
501(c)(4) groups, the Nation was shocked, but not surprised. After 
thorough investigations by Congress and unrelenting criticism by 
liberals and conservatives, several high-level officials resigned.
  While the IRS can and has fired many low-level employees for other 
abuses and poor performance, a report by the IRS Inspector General 
found that many of the IRS employees were rehired.
  That is why this week we are passing the Ensuring Integrity in the 
IRS Workforce Act, which will prevent the agency from rehiring anyone 
who was previously terminated for misconduct.
  Government employees, especially those in the IRS, who work with 
private and sensitive data of American citizens should not be given the 
chance to do it again.
  This week the House will show the American people that we take our 
responsibility to stop corruption, misconduct, and abuse of power in 
the Internal Revenue Service seriously.

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