Political Quotes

“I rise, in the first instance, to commend our chairman for his commitment to restoring public confidence in the Internal Revenue Service and for the legislation he has so ably crafted and now so succinctly set forth in the opening statement of this debate, which I think will probably consume the better part of the Senate's time for this week. He, of course, stood on the shoulders of giants, you might say. In the report of the National Commission on Restructuring the Internal Revenue Service, "A Vision for a New IRS," which was a statutory commission established in 1996, and which reported in June of 1997-- chaired by our distinguished and gallant committee member Bob Kerrey, J. Robert Kerrey, whom I will ask to manage this legislation in the days ahead, he having been the principal author here, along with his colleague from the other side of the aisle, Senator Chuck Grassley, Charles Grassley, "Chuck" to his friends. They anticipated the work we did, although I don't think they could have anticipated some of the things we encountered in those hearings. Those two Senators have been indefatigable in their endeavor to transform the IRS into a consumer-based agency. As two rounds of hearings held by the Finance Committee illustrate, there is much room for improvement at the IRS.”