Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2015

Floor Speech

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. GOSAR. Mr. Chairman, I rise today to offer one final amendment to the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act for the fiscal year 2015.

Let me first say that I am especially grateful to Chairman Crenshaw and Ranking Member Serrano for working with me on my variety of amendments to this bill. They have been exceptionally cooperative and congenial. I would also like to thank the staff of the Financial Services Subcommittee. They have also been very courteous and cooperative with my staff.

My final amendment to the bill seeks to effectuate a policy of accountability in government. Historically, the IRS has never been liked by the American people. The agency takes our hard-earned wages and enforces the Internal Revenue Code.

I would argue that the power wielded by this agency is matched only by the Department of Defense because, as we all know, the power to tax is the power to destroy, and although no one ever liked the IRS, most Americans quietly trusted them.

They trusted that the agency was enforcing the law with fairness and impartiality and were beyond reproach in terms of political pressure. That trust has not only been questioned, it has been annihilated.

This year, House Republicans have gone above and beyond to hold this President and his lawless administration accountable for their actions and inactions, and this is another opportunity to act rather than to speak.

My final amendment to the bill follows in the footsteps of another that I cosponsored and supported in the MilCon-VA Appropriations Act just a few weeks ago. This amendment would prohibit bonuses or performance awards to be paid to senior executive employees at the IRS.

The saying goes with great power comes great responsibility. The IRS is responsible for administering tax laws fairly and justly. They have failed at that responsibility, and they now must be held accountable. Senior management should never have let this happen.

Moreover, they should not be given performance awards in the wake of one of the largest scandals in recent history. Giving out bonuses is ludicrous and amounts to a slap in the face to the American public.

I would also like to quickly note that I appreciate the committee's inclusion of a provision, section 112, in the bill. That section prescribes that, before a bonus may be awarded to an IRS employee, an assessment of the employee's conduct, in addition to a mandatory check for back taxes or delinquent taxes, must be performed and taken into account.

As a duly-elected Member of Congress representing hundreds of thousands of Arizonans, I cannot, in good conscience, allow any sort of bonus to be awarded to senior management at this rogue agency.

As long as I remain a Member of this body, I will seek to ensure that this policy becomes law each and every fiscal year. It is my hope that this amendment will ultimately be signed into law and that no bonuses at all will be awarded in the next fiscal year.

None should have been given this last year, but Commissioner John Koskinen decided to dole out bonuses anyway, despite the anger he knew it would cause. Overall, my hope is that this amendment will incentivize one of these senior executives at the IRS to come forth with copies of Lois Lerner's magically vanishing emails.

Should that day come and should the Congress and the American people receive closure to this scandal, I will cease my efforts to prohibit these awards, and the IRS may begin the process of rebuilding the trust it has so blatantly violated.

This agency has shown contempt for the American taxpayer, and the ensuing outrage at the IRS has been bipartisan. When the House voted on House Resolution 565 to demand that Attorney General Eric Holder appoint a special counsel to look into the scandal, 26 Democrats voted to support that measure.

As I mentioned with my last IRS amendment, if you disapprove of the IRS leaking tax information about the President's political opponents, then support my amendment.

If you disapprove of the IRS targeting conservative groups for their political beliefs, then support my amendment. If you disapprove of the IRS ignoring congressional subpoenas, then support my amendment.

If you disapprove of this agency stonewalling Congress, destroying evidence, and lying to the American people, then support my amendment. Finally, if you disapprove of IRS senior executives receiving bonuses for their failures, then support my amendment.

Again, I thank the chairman and ranking member for their continued work on the committee.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source