Senators to IRS: Respect American's and Groups' Privacy

Today In Washington, D.C. - June 18, 2012:
The Supreme Court was expected to release its decision on the ObamaCare mandate. However, the decision has been delayed until next week.

On a less serious note, Vice President Joe Biden responded a few days ago about his Pennsylvania roots while speaking in Pennsylvania, "Barack makes me sound like I climbed out of a mine in Scranton, Pennsylvania carrying a lunch bucket." Well, Joe Biden parents weren't blue collar and while Joe has never shoveled any coal, he has shoveled a lot of political verbal manure both as a Senator and a Vice President over the years including the advancement of ObamaCare.

The House is back in session; although members are still returning; they will take up debating some bill under suspension beginning at 4 pm. Tomorrow, the House will debate and vote on H.R. 2578, the Conservation and Economic Growth Act. On Wednesday, the House may consider a motion to instruct conferees on the highway bill. It will also begin debate on H.R. 4480, the Domestic Energy and Jobs Act, which contains several commonsense proposals to boost American energy production. A vote on the legislation is scheduled for Thursday.

The Senate will reconvene at 3 PM today and resume consideration of the farm bill, S. 3240. Work continues to reach a unanimous consent agreement on amendments to the farm bill. Then at 5 PM, the Senate will take up the nomination of Mary Geiger Lewis to be United States District Judge for the District of South Carolina. Following 30 minutes of debate, the Senate will vote on the Lewis nomination

Earlier this year, a group of Senate Republicans, including Republican Leader Mitch McConnell and Ranking Member of the Finance Committee Orrin Hatch, sent a letter to the IRS expressing concerns over that agency’s treatment of tea party groups applying for tax-exempt status.

At the time, Politico wrote, “Don't pick on the tea party, a dozen Republican senators told the IRS on Wednesday. In a letter to IRS Commissioner Douglas Schulman . . . GOP senators said they’re concerned the agency may be targeting conservative-leaning groups in its recent inquiry into whether certain political organizations should qualify as nonprofits.

“‘We have received reports and reviewed information from nonprofit civic organizations in Kentucky, Ohio, Tennessee, and Texas concerning recent IRS inquiries perceived to be excessive,” the letter states. “It is critical that the public have confidence that federal tax compliance efforts are pursued in a fair, even-handed, and transparent manner—without regard to politics of any kind. To that end, we write today to seek your assurance that this recent string of inquiries has a sound basis in law and is consistent with the IRS’s treatment of tax-exempt organizations across the spectrum,’ the letter continues.”

Not satisfied with the initial response from the IRS, Sen. McConnell, Sen. Hatch, Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY), Jon Kyl (R-AZ), John Thune (R-SD), Mike Enzi (R-WY), Lamar Alexander (R-TN), John Cornyn (R-TX), Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX), Bob Corker (R-TN), and Pat Roberts (R-KS) sent a new latter to the IRS commissioner questioning the agency’s commitment to protecting the privacy of the groups it’s been asking for information from. “Congress has made privacy the rule, and not the exception,” wrote the senators. “A list of donors who have given money to specific charitable organizations is something that carries great value to certain interested parties, as trading of personal information about private citizens has become common practice. Unfortunately, the public release of private donor information exposes citizens to possible harassment and intimidation by those who oppose the goals of the charitable organization.”

In his major address at AEI on the protections of the First Amendment and growing threats to it by left-wing groups and the Obama administration, Leader McConnell specifically addressed this issue:

“News reports suggest that top White House officials have long participated in a weekly conference call with a left-wing organization in Washington whose stated purpose is to track conservative media voices, seize on potentially offensive content, and then use it to mount corporate intimidation campaigns aimed at driving these voices clear out of the public square.

“Earlier this year, dozens of Tea Party-affiliated groups across the country learned what it was like to draw the attention of the speech police when they received a lengthy questionnaire from the IRS demanding attendance lists, meeting transcripts, and donor information. One of the group’s leaders described the situation this way: “[groups like ours] either drown … in unnecessary paper work … or you survive, and give them everything they want, only to be hung.”

“The head of one national advocacy group has released documents which show that his group’s confidential IRS information found its way into the hands of a staunch critic on the Left who also happens to be a co-chairman of President Obama’s re-election committee. The only way this information could have been made public is if someone leaked it from inside the IRS.

“And just last week we learned of an IRS decision revoking the tax-exempt status of small political nonprofit groups that undoubtedly foreshadows an effort to do the same to bigger groups on the Right that the Obama Administration regards as a threat to its campaign.

Those who have the resources and the will to fight these things should be commended. Those who don’t should be able to count on our support. But let’s be very clear: no individual or group in this country should have to face harassment or intimidation, or incur crippling expenses, defending themselves against their own government, simply because that government doesn’t like the message they’re advocating."

Editorial Comment: Serous minded people on issues and on both ends of acceptable political spectrum should be very concerned with this abuse / harassment by agencies and offices of the Obama administration.   While I do may  not agree with many others on their positions and indeed appose admittedly many positions, I would not have anyone's free speech limited nor wish to see the IRS and other agencies used to silence their speech.

Those that do limit free speech and open debate are not friends of freedom.  They only promote  their own dictatorial view.  They may hand out tokens of support for a while, but they know where every token has been given and expect repayment through abeyance and more.  Examples from history prove that despot's destroy all who do not fit limited mode of those they cannot use, control or subjugate.  It has been repeated time and again when the rights of mankind are not esteemed.

Before Hitler ordered the horrific extermination of the Jews, he rounded up the outspoken Germans who were Christian ministers voices against his agenda and  those who did not fit his image for the New Reich: the homosexuals, the gypsies, the Masons, etc.  However, he first began with the most innocent and defenseless, he had the in-firmed and even the elderly exterminated because they cost too much and were in the way of his plans for economic recovery.   Anyone who tramples on the 1st Amendment and all the other Amendments is not a friend of individual liberty and freedom.

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