Politics: at a slight remove

[pecunium]

Josh Marshall, at Talking Points Memo pointed me to this

"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."

It seems this was added by Rep. Istook(R-Oklahoma). The Dems caught it right at the wire.

Designee. That could be me, it could be the political opponent in the next election (because this isn't just your last return, it's any and all)

What could he have wanted it for? I don't buy the argument that it was slipped in by mistake. These things have to be written by people.

Comments

[hammercock.livejournal.com]

That is just creepy and vile.

[a-priestess.livejournal.com]

Yes, it's creepy. Thing is, you know there's a specific purpose for it; someone in particular whose finances Istook wants to get his hands on, or some potential hot-button issue he's anticipating that this kind of access would defuse. Slimy. Just plain slimy. And with the bill running to 1600+ pages, one has to wonder what else these #^*@%!$ slipped in there.

[pecunium.livejournal.com]

Yyah.

Important bills are bad enough, but the sheer volume of legislation is a problem too. The scene in F 9/11 where the rep admits to Moore that none of them really read he bills is sad, not because it's true, but because for so many of the audience, that was a revelation.

If we could do any one thing to reduce the problem, it would be making a single topic the rule for any bill. Can't be done. Barring that, they all need bigger staffs, and they need to make them larger by people who's only job is the reading of bills.

And the bills have to be kept from a vote until the staffs (I wanted to put staves in there) have had time to read them, and pass an analysis.

But none of that can happen. So we need to be a vigilant as possible.


TK

[cakmpls.livejournal.com]

Thanks for pointing this out. There's so much hinky stuff going on these days that we need to pass the word around as much as possible--no one can find out everything.