Senate leaders vow author will be held accountable

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist said Sunday that "accountability will be carried out" against whoever slipped a provision into an omnibus spending bill that would have allowed two committee chairmen to view the tax returns of any American.

"I have no earthly idea how it got in there," Frist said on CBS's "Face The Nation." "Nobody is going to defend this."

The language was caught and removed in the Senate on Saturday, but the House will have to approve the fix before the spending bill can be sent to the White House for President Bush's signature.

However, the delay will not cause a government shutdown. Congress already had passed a stopgap resolution to fund government agencies through December 3 in order to give the White House time to consider the omnibus bill.

A military plane flew that resolution to Chile, where Bush was attending the APEC summit, so the president could sign it to avoid any disruption of government.

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said in a written statement that "The Republicans' lack of transparency and willingness to abuse their power is undermining democracy. It should be of grave concern to all Americans that their privacy could be invaded by such an outrageous provision."

Sen. John McCain said Sunday that the episode points up the problems created when Congress passes gigantic spending bills at the end of a session, before anyone has time to read them.

"If there is ever a graphic example of the broken system that we now have, that certainly has to be it," the Arizona Republican said on NBC's "Meet The Press." "How many other provisions didn't we find in that 1,000-page bill?"


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I was watching that whole show as it happened on CSPAN. I was aghast at the underhanded methods of the House to get this stinkbomb past the Senate. The Senate needs to find out who worked this into the bill. I agree with McCain and Byrd (Bird?) that this method of passing bills is dangerous. They said only two provisions of the omnibus appropriations bill had been previously passed by the Senate, and there was no time to review the whole mess. Then this obvious grab for non-accountability giving the chairman of the appropriations committee (or designee) the power to review anyone's income taxes with zero oversight or penalty for abuse. Sure, it was a "mistake" -- my a$$.

It's just creepy. And scary.

__________________
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I wonder why the republcans want to take so much power away from the people? Do they really think their way is the only way to think? Have they no respect for other people's point of view when it doesn't hurt them, or do they (repubs) simply live in fear of all they cannot comprehend?

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The only thing we have to fear is fear itself!

This makes you (ok, me) wonder what other ludicrous stuff has been hidden away in the middle of 3000-page spending bills.

This plus the relaxation of ethics rules in the House does not bode well at all for how Republicans plan to use their power.

It really is a fright, isn't it? I wonder if GW is going to use this as fodder to push for line-item veto again. I swear, the closer I follow all of this crap, the more I feel the need for a shower.....

Yet another reason to abolish the IRS and switch to a national retail sales tax system.

And it illustrates exactly why there should be a "one issue per bill" rule in Congress.

Mike

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1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
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I'm no libertarian but I agree with both those ideas.

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"He who fights with monsters might take care lest he thereby become a monster. And if you gaze for long into an abyss, the abyss gazes also into you." - Friedrich Nietzsche

They'd get nothing done! And we'd all be better off!

The bad guy turned out to be Ishtook of Oklahoma, a well-known religious fascist. Since the other senators involved are all rabid pro-lifers, my guess is the purpose of this is to go after the tax returns of abortion providers and pro-choice advocates. This should be an impeachable offense.

That's interesting. I had it pegged on DeLay to get some ammo on Ronny Earle on possible indictments. Not that he's not behind it, but that is certainly entertaining conspiracy.

__________________
'83 240D with 617.952 and 2.88
'01 VW Beetle TDI
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD
'89 Toyota 4x4, needs 2L-T
'78 280Z with L28ET - 12.86@110
Oil Burner Kartel #35

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Ishtook is a one issue guy - abortion. He talks about nothing else, and introduces bills on no other subject. If he was involved, abortion was invovled. Knowing the Republicans and their new love for coordinated media attacks, they are proabaly planning a full scale media assault ala "Swift Boats" on the entire pro-choice movement right around the time a Supreme Court appointment comes up.

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- A leading House Republican said that a controversial provision in an omnibus spending bill would have given two committee chairmen the power to oversee the Internal Revenue Service, not snoop into Americans' tax returns.

In a statement released Sunday, Rep. Ernest Istook, R-Oklahoma, said that "nobody's privacy was ever jeopardized."

Istook is the chairman of the Subcommittee on Transportation and Treasury, and Independent Agencies, which was responsible for that section of the bill.

Istook said the language was intended to "include visiting and inspecting the huge IRS processing centers but not inspecting tax returns."

The provision said:

"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."

Well there you have it. No wonder the Senators were so up in arms about it.

I'm sure "any tax returns or return information contained therein" means there would be no inspection of tax returns.

__________________
'83 240D with 617.952 and 2.88
'01 VW Beetle TDI
'05 Jeep Liberty CRD
'89 Toyota 4x4, needs 2L-T
'78 280Z with L28ET - 12.86@110
Oil Burner Kartel #35

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b1...oD/bioclip.jpg

Finally! For once, you've actually called someone a "fascist".......and he really IS a "fascist"! Excellent! You finally got it right!

Mike

__________________
_____
1979 300 SD
350,000 miles
_____
1982 300D-gone---sold to a buddy
_____
1985 300TD
270,000 miles
_____
1994 E320
not my favorite, but the wife wanted it

www.myspace.com/mikemover
www.myspace.com/openskystudio
www.myspace.com/speedxband
www.myspace.com/openskyseparators
www.myspace.com/doubledrivemusic

That is absolutely criminal that an attempt was made to give political hacks access to information like that. I find Istook's explanation deceitful as well. This action was part of some larger plan, and there should be an investigation to find out what it is, but we know that will never happen.