On the recordJuly 31, 2013
As the Chairman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government, my Subcommittee directly oversees the Internal Revenue Service's budget. And for the past 6 months now I have witnessed an arrogant and absolute abuse of power. Targeting groups based on their names and political beliefs is both chilling and outrageous regardless of their political affiliation. And then finding out of the flagrant waste of taxpayer dollars on conferences and videos, is just downright disheartening. Two weeks ago my Subcommittee Marked-up our Fiscal Year 2014 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill in the full Appropriations Committee. In my mark, I include this exact language of H.R. 2769, the ``Stop Playing on Citizen's Cash Act''-- common sense legislation prohibiting conferences until the IRS implement all of the recommendations from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration. As the agency tasked with processing over 237 million tax returns that result in the collection of $2.5 trillion in taxes and $373 billion in refunds annually you would think they would have safeguards in place that treats all Americans equal and the hard-earned taxpayer dollars they send to Washington spent wisely, effectively and legally. This however, is not the case. Congress appropriates more than $10 billion in hard-earned taxpayer dollars each year for IRS operations.…
