Press Releases

This week, the House passed legislation that empowers citizens and stops government abuses that threaten our economy as a part of “Stop Government Abuse Week.” The measures address issues ranging from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) targeting citizens based on politics, unfair taxpayer funded bonuses, citizens’ rights when dealing with federal regulatory officials, and more. 

Representative Larry Bucshon released the following statement:

“While many Hoosier families struggle from paycheck to paycheck, an out-of-touch and out-of-control federal government continues to abuse its power, overregulate, and recklessly spend our hard earned tax dollars.  This is unfair and unacceptable.

“Today, the House took  action to stop government abuses in agencies like the IRS that have targeted Americans for exercising their right to free speech, stifled opportunity, and trampled our constitutional rights.  My priority is to protect the rights, freedoms, and opportunities of hardworking Americans who are the foundation of this great country.  With these bills, we get government out of the way and working for the American people again.”

Tomorrow, the House is expected to vote on two additional bills that address onerous federal regulations (H.R. 367, the REINS Act) and prevent the IRS from implementing any portion of ObamaCare (H.R. 2009, Keep the IRS Off Your Health Care).

A full list and description of the #StopGovtAbuse bills that passed the House today is included below.

1.    H.R. 1660, the Government Customer Service Improvement Act of 2013 requires agencies to adopt customer service standards and to hold their organization and federal workers accountable. Government is one of the few areas where entity and personnel reviews are not linked to actual level of service provided. H.R. 1660 was sponsored by Rep. Henry Cuellar (TX-28) and passed out of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

2.    H.R. 313, the Government Spending Accountability Act increases transparency with respect to taxpayer-funded conference, places limits on federal conferences, and requires agency head approval for the most expensive conferences. It seems that every week another federal agency is in the news for wasting taxpayer funds on another lavish conference. H.R. 313 was sponsored by Rep. Blake Farenthold (TX-27) and passed out of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

3.    H.R. 2565, the Stop Targeting Our Politics (STOP) IRS Act would provide for the termination of employment of IRS employees who use their official position for political purposes. H.R. 2565 was sponsored by Rep. Jim Renacci (OH-16) and passed out of the Ways and Means Committee.

4.    H.R. 2768, the Taxpayer Bill of Rights Act of 2013 amends the authorizing law that creates the position of IRS Commissioner to make clear that it is the duty of the Commissioner to ensure that Internal Revenue Service employees are familiar with and act in accord with certain enumerated taxpayer rights, including a right to privacy and confidentiality. H.R. 2768 was sponsored by Rep. Peter Roskam (IL-06) and passed out of the Ways and Means Committee.

5.    H.R. 2769, the Stop Playing on Citizen’s Cash Act imposes a moratorium on IRS conferences until the IG’s recommendations are implemented.  The IRS continues to hold taxpayer funded conferences even though it has failed to adopt the reforms recommended by the independent Inspector General to prevent abuse and protect taxpayer funds. H.R. 2769 was sponsored by Rep. Peter Roskam (IL-06) and passed out of the Ways and Means Committee.

6.    H.R. 2711, the Citizen Empowerment Act ensures that individuals have the right to record their meetings and telephone exchanges with federal regulatory officials engaged in enforcement activities and requires that individuals be notified of such right.  Federal agencies not only get to write rules, they get to enforce them. In fact, it was recently noted that “a citizen is 10 times more likely to be tried by an agency than by an actual court. In any given year, federal judges conduct roughly 95,000 adjudicatory proceedings, including trials, while federal agencies complete more than 939,000. H.R. 2711 was sponsored by Rep. Lynn Jenkins (KS-02) and passed out of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

7.    H.R. 2579, the Government Employee Accountability Act  allows agencies to place employees on unpaid leave when they are under investigation for certain serious offenses. Even when a senior federal official is under investigation for serious misconduct, agencies have little disciplinary recourse except to put them on paid leave, where they can continue to collect a paycheck for months and even years. H.R. 2579 was sponsored by Rep. Mike Kelly (PA-03) and passed out of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

8.    H.R. 1541, the Common Sense in Compensation Act  places limits on the size of bonuses awarded by federal agencies and limits the number of senior agency employees who may receive bonuses in any given year. Federal agencies routinely award significant annual bonuses to virtually all of their senior managers. H.R. 1541 was sponsored by Rep. Mark Meadows (NC–11) and passed out of the Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

** Note: H.R. 2711, H.R. 2579, and H.R. 1541 were all combined under H.R. 2879, the Stop Government Abuse Act and passed on Thursday.