Today, Congressman Peter Roskam (IL-06) released the following statement on House passage of his amendment to the 2015 Financial Services Appropriations Act to help protect Americans from intrusive IRS requests.
"The IRS has absolutely no business asking questions about individual Americans' personal religious, political, or social beliefs. Those questions are entirely irrelevant to ensuring a taxpayer is paying any taxes he or she may owe. Hearing firsthand from Americans targeted by their own government and asked about the content of their prayers was absolutely chilling. Our freedom to worship is the very first freedom enshrined in the Bill of Rights, and it is central to who we are as a nation. Today Congress is using its constitutional power of the purse to send the IRS a message. This amendment penalizes the IRS Enforcement Division responsible for these abuses, moving $10 million instead to the National Taxpayer Advocate, an independent office that works to protect taxpayers' religious freedom and ensure these kinds of abuses can never happen again."
Source: http://roskam.house.gov/media-center/press-releases/house-passes-roskam-amendment-to-protect-religious-freedom-from-irs