Malaiyarasan D: “James Kennedy from Florida testified before the oversight subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means, and brought…”

“James Kennedy from Florida testified before the oversight subcommittee of the Committee on Ways and Means, and brought petitions signed by 60,000 people from around this country in support of this legislation. That same day we had a former Member of Congress from Washington, D.C., and a vice mayor of Washington, D.C., Pastor Walter Fauntroy testified on behalf of this legislation at the same time Dr. D. James Kennedy testified, and the attorney who helped me draft this legislation, Mr. Kobe May of the American Center for Law and Justice. Mr. May has been in the courts many times trying to protect the first amendment rights of people throughout this country. What I want to share is a response. There were two representatives from the Internal Revenue Service. One is Mr. Hopkins, and one is Mr. Miller. I found the whole testimony intriguing, quite frankly, but just a couple of points I would like to bring forward. In response to a question the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Lewis) asked Mr. Miller, "As a rule, do you monitor the activities of churches during the political season?" Mr. Miller with the Internal Revenue Service, "We do monitor churches. We are limited in how we do that by reason of section 7611 and because of lack of information in the area because there is no annual filing." Mr. Speaker, this is the point that I want to make clearly.”