Ensuring Integrity in the Irs Workforce Act of 2015

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SESSIONS. Mr. Speaker, I want to thank the gentlewoman from Hamlin County, South Dakota, a very dear friend not only of every Member of Congress, but, in particular, a great Representative representing South Dakota at a time when South Dakota needs not only strong representation, but a strong voice.

I want to thank the young Congresswoman for bringing this legislation to the floor today.

Mr. Speaker, today is quite simple. The United States Congress has a say in the matter about how our government is run and the conduct of the government.

The Internal Revenue Service has, for quite some time, been at odds, I believe, not only with their mission statement, but also at odds with their duty to publicly serve, provide information, and to do the things that enable taxpayers, who want to follow the law and need to follow the law, to comply respectfully.

The Internal Revenue Service, over the last few years, has run afoul, I believe, of the American people because the commonsense obligations that they have have not been met.

Today we are here on the floor with Congresswoman Noem to talk about H.R. 3724 that prohibits the Commissioner of the IRS from rehiring any employee who was involuntarily--that means forced--out or involuntarily separated from service for misconduct at the Internal Revenue Service.

The Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration reported in February 2015 that the IRS had rehired those employees who had been fired from the Service for misconduct, hundreds of former employees who were terminated for well-documented conduct or performance issues.

In fact, the IRS rehired 141 former employees who had substantial tax issues. That means they were not paying their own tax bills.

Mr. Speaker, if we were going to hire a person in our office, we would attempt to gain information about that employee.

Yesterday, as we were talking about this on the rule, a fellow colleague said: What about your own employees? Do you make sure they pay their taxes?

I said: That would be a good question.

No, I don't ask that question. But I would not have any idea what the real answer was--the truth--if an employee did not tell me the truth.

The IRS does have the answer. They know who is paying their taxes, and they know why they fired an employee, Mr. Speaker.

We are here saying that the Internal Revenue Service should not rehire these employees who were unfaithful, unfaithful to their job and unfaithful to the American taxpayer.

One hundred forty-one employees who substantially did not pay their taxes represent 60 percent of all terminated for misconduct.

I think I know why: because the Internal Revenue Service at the highest levels allows this to go on, and then they rehire the employees who didn't even follow the law.

Mr. Speaker, that is not just misconduct. That is another level giving them an opportunity that a normal taxpayer would not have to get away with not paying their own taxes.

Other misconduct issues of rehiring employees include accessing taxpayer information improperly without authorization, falsification of official forms, unacceptable behavior and performance, and abuse of IRS leave and property policies while on public time.

Mr. Speaker, Congresswoman Noem is doing the right thing and so is the House of Representatives. I would like to see this be a bipartisan issue, not a partisan issue.

We need the IRS. We need them to do a good job. But if this were at the Federal Bureau of Investigation, would we allow that to happen? If this were at the CIA, would we allow that to happen?

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. SESSIONS. If this were at the Department of Justice, would we allow that to happen? Why is this not a bipartisan issue?

Why can't we get together and say: Mr. Koskinen, you are the Commissioner of the IRS. We respectfully would like to see you correct what you are doing.

We are not on a witch hunt. We have the facts of the case, and we believe the right thing to do is to offer some remedy.

That is why Republicans are on the floor today, and that is why our young Congresswoman is leading this charge.

I stand behind her. I voted for the rule, and I am going to vote for this. It does the right thing.

I thank the gentlewoman for the time.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source