John Ensign: “I call the attention of the Senate to this clever cartoon. This cartoon has captured a very important part of this…”

“I call the attention of the Senate to this clever cartoon. This cartoon has captured a very important part of this health care bill. It is a Trojan horse that says ``health care reform'' on it. You see a bunch of IRS agents coming out. My amendment goes to the heart of one of the problems with this bill. There is an individual mandate that puts fines on people that can also attach civil penalties. And 16,500 new IRS agents are going to be required to be hired because of the health care reform bill. Do we want IRS agents showing up at people's houses, not only to audit them because of their taxes but because now they are not paying an individual mandate fine? I do not think America wants expansion of the IRS. We should be focusing on jobs, not new jobs for IRS agents. I encourage my colleagues to vote for this amendment that would eliminate the individual fines on the individual mandates and civil penalties.”