Max Baucus: “I have very much appreciated listening to the arguments for this amendment. However, I think it is important for us to…”

“I have very much appreciated listening to the arguments for this amendment. However, I think it is important for us to step back a little bit and look at this issue a little more broadly. The first point I would make is to remind my colleagues that the IRS Restructuring Commission recommended that the Treasury Secretary serve on the Board, as well as recommend there be a representative of an employee organization. The Restructuring Commission spent a lot of time thinking about this. This is not something they willy-nilly recommended to the Congress. Just as we in the Senate voted to honor the Restructuring Commission's inclusion of a representative of an employee organization, I submit it makes sense for us to honor the Restructuring Commission's recommendations to continue to include the Treasury Secretary. The Restructuring Commission spent a lot of time thinking about this, and they did conclude that the Treasury Secretary should be a member of the Board. Why did they do that? I think for a number of reasons. First, the Treasury Secretary has responsibility for the IRS. After all, that is a large part of his job. In fact, 80 percent of Treasury's resources and people are in the IRS--over 100,000 employees. Second, there is an analogy with corporations. Corporate boards include chairmen. Corporate boards include CEOs. Why do they do so? Because they want communication between the governing board on the one hand, and the operation management on the other.”