That is my understanding. I would say to the Senator from Maryland, as you read it, it is even more expansive than I described it. I talked about asking for a tax return. As you read this language, they could ask for all of the tax returns of certain individuals or people living in certain areas or people working for certain companies or people contributing to certain charities or contributing to certain political candidates. They could go in and ask for all the information, and can do it without any penalty under law if they disclose that information or misuse it. To think that we would give this authority in an appropriations bill of 3,400 pages, and we stumbled upon it in the last few moments, is an indication of some of the troubling possibilities in this piece of legislation.
On the recordNovember 20, 2004
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govinfo.govEditor's note · Context
Discussing concerns over expansive authority in an appropriations bill.
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