Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of my bipartisan bill, H.R. 3724, Ensuring Integrity in the IRS Workforce Act. With tax day just behind us, most Americans have finished their tax returns. They filled out form after form, giving the IRS some of the most sensitive information possible, including their Social Security numbers, their birth dates, wage data, and more. In 2014, the inspector general for the IRS released a report that raised serious questions about whose hands this information falls into once it arrives at the IRS. More specifically, an audit of the agency's hiring practices found that the IRS rehired hundreds of former employees whom the IRS had previously fired because of conduct problems. And we are not talking about small infractions. The IRS rehired employees who had falsified documents. They failed to pay their own taxes. They accessed sensitive taxpayer information without permission. To think that someone could inappropriately access tax information, get fired for doing so, and then be rehired just a few months later is completely unacceptable. But it has happened, and it has happened more than once. These stories border on the absurd. One employee had been absent without leave for a total of 8 weeks worth of work. As a result, that employee was fired, and the words ``do not rehire'' were stamped on that personnel file. Still, the IRS rehired that person.…”