Rob Portman: “I hate to disappoint the crowd who has gathered here, but I am going to talk about taxpayer rights and not campaign…”

“I hate to disappoint the crowd who has gathered here, but I am going to talk about taxpayer rights and not campaign finance reform. As someone who has worked for the last 7 years on IRS reform with the gentleman from Pennsylvania (Mr. Coyne) and with others, I think this is something that we ought to focus on, which is expanding taxpayer rights. I think this campaign finance discussion, while interesting, is an entirely different subject that ought not to be part of this bill. I think it is incorrect to say that tax bills come up on this floor under an open rule or anybody can offer an amendment. It has never happened in the 7 years that I have served. I think that the legislation that the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Doggett) is talking about is not ready as compared to this legislation, which is carefully considered, the result of numerous reports, including from the Joint Committee on Taxation, including from the IRS, the Taxpayer Advocate. I think, in fact, that we ought to wait for the Treasury Department's report on this very topic, which is, incidentally, already late, overdue, under the law.”