G.O.P. Says Motive for Tax Clause in Budget Bill Was Misread

[NashVegas]

http://nytimes.com/2004/11/22/politics/22explain.html

"We're not assholes. We're just misunderstood"

Republican leaders said that their motives had been misread and that there was never any intention to invade the privacy of taxpayers. They promised that the provision would be deleted from the bill in a special session on Wednesday before the spending measure, which cleared Congress on Saturday night, was sent to President Bush for his signature.

Representative Ernest Istook, Republican of Oklahoma, who was responsible for the insertion of the tax provision in the 3,000-page, $388 billion legislation that provides financing for most of the government, issued a statement on Sunday saying that the language had actually been drafted by the Internal Revenue Service and that "nobody's privacy was ever jeopardized." Mr. Istook is chairman of the Appropriations subcommittee that has authority over the I.R.S. budget.

John D. Scofield, the spokesman for the House Appropriations Committee, said that the purpose of the provision was to allow investigators for the top lawmakers responsible for financing the I.R.S. to have access to that agency's offices around the country and tax records so they could examine how the money was being spent. There was never any desire to look at anyone's tax returns, he said.

[democrat in Tallahassee]

1. right. from oklahoma, land of the loonies

[teach1st]

Well, that's good enough for me.

They've never lied or tried to compromise our privacy before. </sarcasm>

Weren't they saying last night that it was a mistake? Now it's a misinterpretation.

[Spazito]

2. LOL!

It only took them 24 hours to think up that excuse!

[DireStrike]

3. isn't anyone paying attention?

why dont they lose their jobs for this? why are they still in power... im too depressed to even use proper punctuation and capitalization... :(

[NVMojo]

impeach or delete the bastards from their duties! They failed!

They are some of the weakest links!

[Just Me]

5. Yup! That mistake CANNOT be contributed to ignorance,...

,...without being stupid.

Neither ignorance or stupidity is worth demise,...sincerely.

Give me a fucking break!!! NO ONE sticks that kind of OBVIOUS invasion unless they are are stupid, ignorant or JUST PLAIN EVIL!!!

I'd want EVIDENCE about the foregoing!!!!

[0rganism]

18. Some are, but as long as the reps stand up for fetal rights, it's okay

They could give a live TV interview while buttfucking a goat, and it would be okay as long as they're sufficiently anti-choice for their constituents.

"Gee, ya know, that goat thing was pretty ugly, but at least he'll vote against babykilling. Heck, everyone fucks a goat now and then. Who hasn't fucked a goat? It's all about moral values, and us Godly people know that a little public goat-fucking is much less important than enforcing pregnancies."

[Zorra]

4. The GOP should just admit they are police state fascists. That is what

Bu$h supporters wanted, and they will be happy to embrace the open totalitarianism of republican legislators.

[GetTheRightVote]

7. What a bunch of crap, they lie again,

Do they really think we are stupid enough to believe this crap again. How many times have they tried similiar actions. The Patriotic Act comes to mind for me. They really think we are just a bunch of stupid idiots don't they. They just got caught at it so now they what to whine about it and come up with excuses that make no sense what so ever. Once a repuck always a repuke (once a lier always a lier).

[MO_Dem]

6. Mostly, I'd say

that they are all a bunch of LIARS and cheats and swindlers and hypocrites And they're downright stupid if they think ALL of us are going to believe anything they say (I know lots will believe them, but not us here at DU!)

[The Wielding Truth]

8. So true, Mo.

[Indy_OK]

9. Oops

I'll bet they sure are sorry they got caught!! They did do a pretty good job of hiding it from us. Glad someone was alert and caught it.

[thecrow]

10. I'm just glad the Dems held their ground

that the whole thing was to be struck out before they would vote on it.... but what else lurks inside that HUGE bill?
Boggles the mind, doesn't it?

[nixonwasbetterthanW]

11. Sorry, Mr. Scofield, I'm not buying whatever you're selling

The language clearly would have allowed House members to look at individual tax returns. That is a far stretch from allowing them to investigate how the IRS does its work.

Istook, thy name is Bullshit.

And I'm waiting for the IRS not to lie down for this latest abuse of blame-shifting.

[Straight Shooter]

12. Istook is another one of those Congressional religious weirdos

"Washington, D.C. - Wednesday, Congressman Ernest Istook (R-OK) will reintroduce the Religious Freedom Amendment. Istook will make the announcement at a pro-family rally on the Capitol steps sponsored by the Religious Freedom Coalition, a group headed by William J. Murray, son of Madalyn Murray O'Hair and one of the original plaintiffs in the 1963 Supreme Court case which outlawed state-sanctioned prayer in public schools.

Article is from Sept. 1999 http://religiousfreedom.house.gov/

I bet if you do some research, you'll see longstanding ties between Istook and Tom Delay, and Istook is repaying a favor or brownnosing DeLay. This "oops" was intended to investigate and embarrass the D.A. who had the backbone to stand up to DeLay.

edit: Istook is FOR prayer in schools. I guess William J. Murray had a "change of heart" from his original position against prayer in schools.

[AndyTiedye]

16. Pod Installed, Kool-Aid Forcibly Administered

> I guess William J. Murray had a "change of heart" from his original
> position against prayer in schools.

[agingdem]

13. I kinda hope...

they don't delete the "Istook Provision". True conservatives absolutely hate the "government" invading their privacy...the Dems have to fan out and beat the Republican congress over the head with this every single day.

[Chimpanzee]

14. Good story

Unfortunately it's not what they slipped in that bothers me, it's that they 'slipped it in' without TELLING ANYONE! If they had to debate it it would never have been in there in the first place. This is a raw attempt to subvert the constitution and the congressman in question should be thrown in prison.

[mazzarro]

15. One has to wonder how many of these "slip-ins" have they done in

the past and never got caught or were found way too late? The reThugs have crafted an amazing method of doing whatever they want since they only allow little or no time for legislators to study bills these days.

[Julien Sorel]

17. Whew!

For a while there, I thought the Republicans wanted to curtail my civil liberti -- wait, never mind. They do.

[Supersedeas]

19. isn't it just like a Republican to stand up and be accountable

[yellowcanine]

20. Time for a recall provision for representatives and senators. Democrats

should take up this cause and hammer any representative or senator who opposes it. We should be able to recall representatives who pull shit like this. Now that's a constitutional amendment I would support.