Amory Houghton: “I would like to crank this thing down to a little lower level of intensity. I do not know why we are having this…”

“I would like to crank this thing down to a little lower level of intensity. I do not know why we are having this discussion, anyway. We all want illumination. We do not want to have people hiding behind 527s or 501(c)3s, or 4s or 5s or 6s. No one wants that. It is just the process we are going through. And we want to do it right, so it is right by not only us but also the American people. Two years ago in the IRS reform bill we directed the Joint Committee on Taxation and also the Treasury Department to report to the Congress by January. The joint committee report was completed on time, the treasury report was not. At the request of my boss, the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Archer), I have been working for several weeks to develop a meaningful, sound and responsive package of proposals to expand the disclosure by tax exempt organizations, and work on that package is well underway. I hope we will complete it relatively soon. We have been working all day on this thing. We worked yesterday. We will be working tomorrow on into next week. I would like to feel that when this is completed it will satisfy many of the things which the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett) is interested in. But the point is we are still hearing, and we are waiting to hear from the Treasury Department.”