On the recordApril 15, 2015
I thank the chairman for yielding. One of the questions I get at home a lot is: How did the Lois Lerner scandal happen? How did it come to pass that that happened, and how do you make sure that it doesn't happen again? Mr. Marchant's bill doesn't deal necessarily with Lois Lerner 1.0, but it deals with Lois Lerner 2.0. So it is a prohibition against this very cavalier attitude that we have seen coming from the Internal Revenue Service, and that is to be cavalier about taxpayer information. It hasn't just been leaked through emails. It has been leaked in other sources and in other ways and shapes and iterations, but the effect is the same, and the effect is devastating. So this takes away any ambiguity that somebody can use their own private email account and begin to do official activity. If that is the bright line that is necessary, that is the bright line that Mr. Marchant's bill creates. So what we want to make sure is that we do more than simply say Lois doesn't work here anymore, as if that is the remedy, but to actually change these underlying policies, reclaim this authority, and make sure that this can never happen again.
