Mike Johanns

But I think today you are. It sounds extremely arbitrary and capricious to me that you have set a 40 percent limit.

But you just informed us that if I file under 501(c)(4) and I attest to you that no more than 40 percent of our resources will go to political activity, then I go right on through.

I can assure you the American people are dismayed by the activity at the IRS.

Will you assure me, Mr. Secretary, that all comments will be taken seriously, will be reviewed, will be thoughtfully analyzed before any further action is taken on this rule?

The Internal Revenue Service, beyond a shadow of a doubt, has damaged its credibility. I do not think anybody could disagree with that.

I cannot imagine sitting there having knowledge of something this important, this explosive, and not at least stopping by the ranking member's office or the chairman's office, or both, and saying, look, here is what is going on.

To Tea Party groups, it was consistent. It was group after group after group.

That does not mean that there is not somebody within the IRS who has a certain political bent.

You are saying political appointees, we have no evidence that they were involved.

It just boggles the mind.

It is disappointing to see that the IRS budget request this year is also equally unrealistic.

It just defies common sense.

There is not an American that would understand that.

Many no longer trust the IRS to enforce tax laws impartially without regard to an individual's exercise of their constitutional rights.

As members of this committee, we have a significant responsibility to ensure the hard-earned tax dollars for millions of Americans are spent wisely and, equally as important, appropriately.

Ultimately, I think that it is appropriate for people to say if you are in the IRS, you should pay your taxes.

Thank you for holding this very important hearing today to review the budget requests of the Department of Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service.

If one-tenth of the claims about human rights violations in North Korea turn out to be verifiable someday--and someday they will be verifiable--this is outrageous, it's shocking.

Such a completely unrealistic request sets unreasonable expectations, and they are not credible.

One of my concerns is that, once the door opens, the temptation for other countries, other parts of the world, to squeeze that door further open and further open is just too great to pass up.

I have joined a number of my colleagues in supporting a bipartisan effort to impose stricter sanctions on Iran if ongoing negotiations between Iran and other nations fail to produce results.

I think we all agree that the implementation of sanctions on Iran is what helped bring them to the negotiating table.

I believe the only acceptable solution for a nation with Iran's track-record is the full abandonment of their nuclear program.

I think we all agree that sanctions can be a powerful tool and a useful tool in carrying out U.S. foreign policy and national security goals.

Yes, and here is what I would offer, Mr. Chairman and Commissioner Pai. This is the kind of issue where us getting in the middle of it and doing this, that, or the next thing may only interfere with the process.