Political Quotes

“I am very pleased with what we did here with the IRS. There are three increases that are in here for, as the gentleman from Indiana spoke about. Yes, it is an increase for IRS; $377 million of that increase is for Y-2K, that is the Year 2000 Compliance, to make sure that the computers are able to handle the shift to the new millennium. I do not think there is anybody that believes that we should have the whole system crash and the IRS not be able to function after the year 2000. That is what this money is in there for. We have funded that completely. There is also $325 million for technology investment, what we used to call the tax system modernization where, we know, money was unfortunately frittered away in past years. So we have gone to a new system where now the money that we put aside for that is going to be fenced. We will not allow one dime of that to be spent until the committees, both the House and Senate, have seen the architectural plan for the spending of that money. There again, I think this is wise management and prudent spending. Finally, for another initiative that this body has said is extraordinarily important, the $138 million for the earned income tax compliance initiative.”