Washington, D.C. – House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (CA-23) spoke at a leadership press conference today on the House’s bills to hold the IRS accountable.
Full remarks are below or watch online here.
“As you heard from the members of the challenges of an IRS system, as the Speaker said, that no one trusts and a tax code that’s too difficult to understand. Imagine this, that you try to call customer service. Records show only one in ten calls get answered. But think of the penalty and the deadline of where you’re going.
“That’s why on the floor this week there’s four bills I want to highlight. Especially I want to highlight Jason Smith’s work, the Oversight While Eliminating Spending [Act]. The bill would require that user fees collected by the IRS no longer be retained by the agency but instead be deposited in the Treasury so it can be spent on customer service.
“H.R. 1206, No Hires for [the] Delinquent IRS [Act], this is David Rouzer’s. This bill would prohibit the IRS from hiring new employees until the Secretary of Treasury certifies to Congress that the IRS has no employees with delinquent tax debt.
“And Kristi Noem, as she highlighted, Ensuring Integrity in the IRS Workforce Act—protect those individuals. Also, [H.R.] 4890, Ban on IRS bonuses. This bill would prohibit payment of employee merit bonuses awards to the IRS employee until the secretary of the Treasury submits to Congress a comprehensive customer service strategy. This is Pat Meehan. Bonuses going in the IRS, but phones are not being answered. We feel that is just wrong, and we’re going to do something about it.”