McConnell: Proposed IRS Rule Designed to Stifle Administration Critics

Floor Speech

U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding the Obama Administration's attempts to use the IRS to suppress American free speech:

"Just last year, IRS officials and an inspector general report confirmed what we'd been hearing from constituents for a long time: that the IRS was being used to target Americans for daring to exercise their First Amendment rights…for daring to think differently…for daring to hold opinions contrary to high-ranking government officials.

"They confirmed that civic groups the Administration opposed -- including at least one in my home state of Kentucky -- were harassed and bullied.

"They confirmed that individuals who supported those groups were intimidated and attacked. And they confirmed something else too: that this happened in the run-up to a national election.

"So Americans were rightly outraged when the worst fears of citizen organizations came to light.

"And Americans rightly expected the Obama Administration to take concrete steps to end the harassment once and for all -- to put safeguards in place that would ensure the same kind of abuse could never happen again.

"But that's not what happened.

"In fact, that's basically the opposite of what happened.

"The Obama Administration now seems to be trying to legitimize the harassment after the fact -- to enact regulations that would essentially allow the IRS to bully and intimidate Americans who express their right to free speech.

"It's something they were originally planning to slip by while the harassment was still going on.

"And here's the thing: the Administration knows it could never get anything like this through Congress the democratic way, so it's trying to quietly impose the new regulations through the back door -- by executive fiat.

"Administration officials insist the rules change is just a minor bureaucratic adjustment. Nothing to see here, they say.

"They claim it's just is a "good government' idea from the IRS -- a response to the inspector general report that brought these terrible abuses to light.

"But, of course, we know that's not really the case.

"We know that the Administration had been working on this proposed rule for at least two years before the inspector general report came out. And from the looks of things, there is nothing "good government' about this at all -- like so much of what we've seen with the Obama Administration, it appears to be almost purely political.

"Under the Administration's proposed regulations, many citizen groups could be prohibited from participating in some of the most basic civic engagement activities: things like voter registration, and issue advocacy, and educating citizens about candidates before an election.

"It's just wrong.

"Grassroots groups shouldn't be persecuted for doing the very things Americans expect them to do -- they shouldn't be forced to shut down for engaging in the very kind of educational activities the 501(c)4 designation was designed to support.

"The idea is to shut up and shut down the voices that oppose the Administration's priorities -- and it comes on the heels of a long-running pet project of this Administration to expose conservative donors to harassment in order in order to dry up their funding.

"Americans who care about the First Amendment need to stand up to this regulation before the Administration has a chance to finalize it.

"And they are.

"More than 20,000 citizens have already submitted comments on this proposed rule at Regulations.gov. Nearly all of the ones I saw were opposed.

"In the House, Representative Dave Camp has introduced legislation that would prevent the IRS from implementing any such regulation, and next week, I -- along with Senator Flake, Senator Roberts, and others -- will introduce companion legislation that would do the same thing here in the Senate.

"But I hope it doesn't have to come to that. There's a much easier fix here.

"The new Commissioner of the IRS, John Koskinen, can put a stop to the rule now if he chooses.

"And if he means what he said when the Senate confirmed him -- the comments we heard about restoring integrity to the IRS -- then he'll do just that. The Speaker and I, along with top Senate and House leadership and the leadership of the relevant authorizing and appropriations committees, have just sent a letter to Mr. Koskinen on this topic. We look forward to his response.

"In the 1970s, President Nixon famously tried to influence the IRS into helping him punish his political opponents. Back then, the IRS commissioner stood up and said, essentially: no, that's not what the agency is supposed to do.

"That act of courage and independence became the defining act of an already distinguished career -- and it was something the American taxpayer should be forever grateful for.

"Today, Commissioner Koskinen has a similar choice. He can either be remembered as the man who reformed this IRS at a time when Americans were deeply distrustful of it. Or he can be remembered as the man who allowed himself to be used by the Administration for its own political ends.

"That's the choice.

"The bottom line is this: Americans need to be able to trust the IRS again. And that means getting our nation's tax agency back to the mission it was designed to perform: things like processing tax returns. Not regulating free speech.

"The Obama Administration's proposed rule has almost nothing to do with actual tax policy. It's more about making harassment of its political opponents the official policy of the IRS. And that's completely unacceptable.

"Remember: This is an agency that has access to some of Americans' most sensitive personal information -- with the power to audit, penalize, and harass, power that is pretty wide-ranging.

"That's why groups all across the political spectrum, from the ACLU to the Chamber of Commerce, have expressed their concerns about this rule.

"So let's be clear.

"Commissioner Koskinen: You know that the IRS has no business regulating free speech.

"The eyes of Americans are on you.

"They're counting on you to do the right thing."

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