[Congressional Bills 113th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 2022 Introduced in House (IH)]
113th CONGRESS
1st Session
H. R. 2022
To prohibit the implementation or enforcement of any requirement of the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act until certifications are
made that taxpayer information is not and will not be used for
targeting any individual or group that provides information to the
Internal Revenue Service for political reasons or on the basis of
political views, and for other purposes.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
May 16, 2013
Mrs. Black (for herself, Mr. Hall, Mr. Boustany, and Mr. Kelly of
Pennsylvania) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the
Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committee on Energy
and Commerce, for a period to be subsequently determined by the
Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall
within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To prohibit the implementation or enforcement of any requirement of the
Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act until certifications are
made that taxpayer information is not and will not be used for
targeting any individual or group that provides information to the
Internal Revenue Service for political reasons or on the basis of
political views, and for other purposes.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. FINDINGS.
Congress finds the following:
(1) The Internal Revenue Service currently administers 47
tax provisions under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act.
(2) The Internal Revenue Service and its employees will
have significantly greater access than it currently has to
taxpayer information for the enforcement and enactment of the
individual mandate under the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act.
(3) No government agency has more authority in the
enforcement of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
than the Internal Revenue Service.
(4) According to one study, the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act employer mandate would put up to 3.2
million jobs at risk. Echoing that, the Federal Reserve warned,
``Employers in several Districts cited the unknown effects of
the Affordable Care Act as reasons for planned layoffs and
reluctance to hire more staff.''.
(5) According to previous reports from the Government
Accountability Office (GAO) and Treasury Inspector General for
Tax Administration, the Internal Revenue Service did not have
adequate processes in place to accurately review and account
for the taxpayer dollars the Internal Revenue Service are
spending to implement the controversial law.
(6) The Internal Revenue Service has proven it is a
government agency wrought with fraud and abuse, and has not
been capable of ensuring the constitutional rights of American
citizens is not infringed upon.
(7) According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax
Administration, the Internal Revenue Service's Determinations
Unit began searching as far back as 2010 ``for other requests
for exemption involving Tea Party, Patriots, 9/12 and Internal
Revenue Code of 1986 501(c)(4) applications involving political
sounding names, e.g., `We the People' or `Take Back the
Country'''.
(8) According to the Treasury Inspector General for Tax
Administration, on June 29, 2011, IRS Exempted Organizations
Division director Lois Lerner is apprised of the Internal
Revenue Service's discriminatory practices.
(9) On March 22, 2012, the Ways and Means Oversight
Subcommittee held a hearing on the tax return filing season and
general Internal Revenue Service operations where Chairman
Boustany asks then-Internal Revenue Service Commissioner
Shulman about reports that the Internal Revenue Service has
been targeting Tea Party groups. Shulman responds, ``I can give
you assurance . . . there is absolutely no targeting.''.
SEC. 2. PROHIBITION ON IMPLEMENTATION OR ENFORCEMENT OF ANY REQUIREMENT
OF THE PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT UNTIL
CERTIFICATION THAT TAXPAYER INFORMATION IS NOT AND WILL
NOT BE USED FOR TARGETING ANY INDIVIDUAL OR GROUP FOR
POLITICAL REASONS OR ON BASIS OF POLITICAL VIEWS.
(a) Violations of Rights Before Enactment.--The Internal Revenue
Service shall not implement or enforce any requirement of the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act or title I of the Health Care and
Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, including any requirement
contained in an amendment made by those Acts, until the Secretary of
the Treasury certifies under penalty of perjury that with respect to
any activity before the date of the enactment of this Act--
(1) taxpayer information is not and will not be used for
targeting any individual or group that provides information to
the Internal Revenue Service for political reasons or on the
basis of political views, and
(2) the Internal Revenue Service has terminated the
employment of all employees in accordance with section 1203 of
the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and Reform Act of
1998 (26 U.S.C. 7804 note) who, with respect to actions before
the enactment of this Act, are found to have violated the
constitutional rights of any taxpayer, including any employee
who knew of abuses related to the targeting of a political
group within the Internal Revenue Services, declined to come
forward, or willfully misled investigators.
(b) Violations of Rights After Enactment.--
(1) Rights.--Taxpayer information shall not be used for
targeting any individual or group that provides information to
the Internal Revenue Service for political reasons or on the
basis of political views.
(2) Certification.--After the date of the enactment of this
Act, a department or agency concerned--
(A) shall not implement or enforce, or
(B) if a violation of paragraph (1) occurs by any
employee of the department or agency, shall suspend the
implementation or enforcement of,
any requirement of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care
Act or title I of the Health Care and Education Reconciliation
Act of 2010, including any requirement contained in an
amendment made by those Acts, until the head of such department
or agency (the Secretary of the Treasury in the case of the
Internal Revenue Service) certifies under penalty of perjury
that the department or agency has terminated the employment of
any employee of the department or agency in accordance with
section 1203 of the Internal Revenue Service Restructuring and
Reform Act of 1998 (26 U.S.C. 7804 note) who, with respect to
actions before the enactment of this Act, is found to have
violated the constitutional rights of any taxpayer.
(c) Process To Resume Implementation.--In any case in which the
implementation or enforcement of any requirement described in
subsection (a)(1) or (b)(1) was prevented or suspended by subsection
(a) or (b) (as the case may be), such implementation or enforcement
shall not thereafter take effect or resume (as the case may be) until
90 calendar days after the date on which the certification required by
this section is made with respect to any such prevention or suspension,
unless before such 90-day period a joint resolution disapproving such
certification is enacted.
(d) Definition and Special Rules.--For purposes of this section--
(1) Covered department or agency.--The term ``department or
agency concerned'' means the Internal Revenue Service, the
Department of Health and Human Services, and any other
department or agency from which information is centralized in
one place, such as in the Federal Data Services Hub or any
similar database.
(2) Applicability of termination of employment authority.--
The provisions of section 1203 of the Internal Revenue Service
Restructuring and Reform Act of 1998 (26 U.S.C. 7804) shall
apply with respect to any department or agency concerned, and
for such purposes, such section shall be applied by
substituting the ``head of the department or agency concerned''
for the ``Commissioner of Internal Revenue'' and the
``department or agency concerned'' for the ``Internal Revenue
Service''.
(3) Prohibition on delegating responsibility of secretary
of the treasury.--The responsibility of the Secretary of the
Treasury under this section may not be delegated.
(e) Submission to Congress.--The head of the department or agency
making a certification under this section shall submit the
certification to the Congress.
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