Some things, like the DeLay Rule, are outrageous but not that surprising.
But what I'm about to describe is outrageous and almost literally unbelievable.
As you've probably heard, the congress is pushing through a big
omnibus spending bill this weekend. And at the last minute, Republican
leaders tried to slip in a
provision that would give certain committee chairman and their staffers
unlimited access to any American's tax return, with none of the standard privacy protections applying.
You heard that right.
They could pull anyone's tax return, read it over and do whatever
they wanted with the information. Those who would have this power would
be the chairs and ranking members of the senate and house
appropriations committees and subcommittees and “their designees.”
The key is that the privacy rights provisions, and criminal and
civil penalties that go with them, don't apply for the appropriations
committees.
At the last minute, Senate Democrats caught the language (keep in
mind these omnibus bills can be like phone books), protested and the
Republicans beat a hasty retreat. Some of it is discussed in this AP article at MSNBC, though they lamely call it a “tax-disclosure gaffe.”
The Republicans are acting like it was all an innocent mistake. And
it seems clear that there are Republican senators who didn't know
anytihng about it and are pissed. But clearly this was no accident,
unless provisions have started to write themselves.
More soon.
Late Update: Here is the text of the provision in question (emphasis added)
“Hereinafter, notwithstanding any other provision of law
governing the disclosure of income tax returns or return information,
upon written request of the Chairman of the House or Senate Committee
on Appropriations, the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service
shall allow agents designated by such Chairman access to Internal Revenue Service facilities and any tax returns or return information contained therein.”
Even Later Update: Apparently the provision was placed into the bill at the request of Rep. Istook of Oklahoma. Istook is chairman of the House Appropriations Transportation Subcommittee.
I'm not sure if it's relevant to what happened here, but the Treasury Department falls under the jurisdiction of Istook's subcommittee.
[Talking Points Memo: by Joshua Micah Marshall]