Relating to the Consideration of House Report and An Accompanying Resolution

Floor Speech

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Mrs. BICE of Oklahoma. Mr. Speaker, as explained prior, if we defeat the previous question, we will immediately move to bring up H.R. 5586. This bill prohibits the expansion of the Internal Revenue Service's requirements for financial institutions to report bank account transactions.

The Biden administration is searching for ways to pay for their partisan $5.5 trillion social policy bill, and one of the Democrats' proposed solutions is to spy on taxpayers' bank accounts.

Their proposal would require financial institutions and service providers to report data on accounts that deposit or withdraw more than $600 or maybe $10,000 to the Internal Revenue Service to help ensure that Americans are paying their fair share in taxes.

Democrats claim that this regulatory expansion would only impact wealthy Americans and businesses. But in reality, it targets virtually all working-class people in our Nation.

This government overreach would be an enormous violation of privacy, jeopardize the financial security of all Americans, and impose significant compliance costs on financial institutions.

Through this proposal, the Democrats are looking to weaponize the IRS by creating a new surveillance program, which would allow them to monitor every single bank account without permission or limit. In order to conduct this surveillance on Americans, the provision includes $80 billion to double the number of IRS agents, which would be six times the size of the IRS' annual budget.

This plan was initially included in the massive budget reconciliation bill and has now since been removed after pushback from financial institutions and customers. But it is still being considered for passage.

Regardless, my House Republican colleagues and I are doing what we can to protect the financial security and privacy of the American people.

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Mrs. BICE of Oklahoma. I have recently written a letter to Speaker Pelosi, Chairman Neal, Secretary Yellen, and Commissioner Rettig to express my concerns of overburdening the data collection system, exposing millions of Americans to potential cyberattacks, and how distrust in banks negatively impacts our economy.

Additionally, I signed on to a letter and cosponsored two bills that directly address this pressing issue. The letter to Secretary Yellen expressed the concern of more Americans unbanking due to privacy concerns and distrust in banks and how applying extra reporting requirements for financial institutions would be incredibly burdensome.

The U.S. Government should not have the authority to spy on bank accounts of American taxpayers. The Biden administration's proposal would significantly impact the working class, invade privacy, pose financial security threats for Americans and businesses, and further burden institutions. House Republicans are working tirelessly to put a stop to this government overreach and protect the American people's security, privacy, and trust in this great Nation.

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