WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Grassley, ranking member of the Finance Committee, and six other committee members are asking for an inspector general review of whether Obama Administration officials illegally accessed and disclosed confidential taxpayer information.

The inquiry comes after media reports quoted a senior Obama Administration official describing the tax structure of Koch Industries, Inc.  Taxpayer confidentiality laws are strict, in part to prevent the use of tax information for political gain.  The official appeared to indicate knowledge of Koch Industries' tax structure beyond what is publicly available.

Grassley, along with Sens. Jon Kyl, Jim Bunning, Pat Roberts, Michael B. Enzi, John Cornyn and John Ensign, asked the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration to investigate whether Obama Administration officials inappropriately examined and disclosed confidential taxpayer information and if so, whether they violated the taxpayer confidentiality law, known as section 6103.

"... the statement that Koch is a pass-through entity implies direct knowledge of Koch's legal and tax status, which would appear to be a violation of section 6103," the senators wrote.  "Alternatively, if the statement was based on speculation, it raises the question of whether the Administration speculating about any specific taxpayer's liability is appropriate."

The Finance Committee has exclusive Senate jurisdiction over tax policy.  The signed version of the senators' letter is available here.  The text of the senators' letter follows below.

An article from The Wall Street Journal quoting a senior Obama Administration official describing Koch Industries' tax structure is available here.

A transcript of a speech by President Obama in which he singles out Americans for Prosperity is available here.

Friday, September 24, 2010

Grassley Continues to Press for Release of Congressionally Mandated Report on Medicaid's Status

WASHINGTON - Sen. Chuck Grassley is again pressing the federal Department of Health and Human Services to finish and release a long overdue, congressionally mandated report on Medicaid's financial and enrollment status.  The report was due Jan. 1, 2010.

"I said before that the report might contain bad news, but we all need to see it," Grassley said.  "The new health care reform law expands Medicaid by the greatest amount in the program's history, yet states are already struggling to afford their existing Medicaid responsibilities.  A true picture of Medicaid's financial state is necessary to ensure that services are funded adequately for the millions of people who rely on the program.  It would really bother me if HHS were withholding the report because they don't want people to know what the true picture of Medicaid is."

Grassley is ranking member of the Committee on Finance, with jurisdiction over health care programs including Medicaid.  The text of his letter to HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius is available here.

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Senator Chuck Grassley made the comment below about the Senate Majority Leader delaying a decision on whether to raise taxes until after the November elections.  As Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Grassley worked to get through Congress bipartisan tax relief, including the 2001 across-the-board rate reduction.  This legislation made the tax code more progressive.  It reduced the tax rate on the lowest taxable income from 15 to 10 percent. It removed millions of low-income workers from the tax rolls entirely.  It increased the child tax credit from $500 to $1,000 and expanded the credit to low-income people without any tax liability.  The legislation included marriage penalty tax relief.  Twelve Democratic senators supported the 2001 legislation.  Two years later, after 9-11, Grassley worked to get through dividends and capital gains tax rate cuts to help spur economic growth.  The result was more revenue to the federal Treasury.  The expanding economy helped reduce the annual budget deficit from $415 billion in 2004 to $167 billion in 2007.

Grassley comment:

"This delay is irresponsible and reckless.  It's no wonder the American people are fed up with the leadership of Congress.  Every family in America faces a major tax increase next year because the Senate majority leader has failed to take action to prevent it.  Without congressional action, a family of four who earns $50,000 will see a $2,155 increase next year.  If congressional leaders are stalling in order to protect their members from votes or to raise more revenue for even more government spending, they are completely out of touch with reality.  People understand the problem isn't that they're taxed too little, but that Washington spends too much.

"Leaving people with uncertainty is a dereliction of duty.  One party has control of the White House and both houses of Congress and still can't get the people's business done.  And uncertainty is terrible for the economy.  Small businesses don't hire people while they sit in limbo, wondering if they'll get hit with a tax increase."

Senators Call on Obama to Fire Government Watchdog for Afghanistan

The group expresses frustration with president's failure to act sooner

WASHINGTON, D.C. - A bipartisan group of four senators today called on President Barack Obama to fire the government watchdog responsible for investigating tax dollar misuse in Afghanistan amid mounting evidence of incompetence and mismanagement.  U.S. Senator Claire McCaskill (D-MO), along with Senators Tom Coburn (R-OK), Susan Collins (R-ME), and Charles Grassley (R-IA), sent a letter asking the president to remove Arnold Fields as the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR).

"It has been clear for several months that SIGAR's mission is not being served effectively.  It is for this reason that we have concluded that SIGAR would be better served with new leadership," the letter states.

Over the past 18 months, all four senators have repeatedly raised concerns regarding SIGAR's performance, but recent actions by Fields have spurred the senators to more aggressively press the president for action.  Fields exhibited questionable judgment by entering into a no-bid $95,000 contract with Joseph Schmitz as a consultant for the agency.  Schmitz, a former Department of Defense Inspector General, resigned among serious allegations of misconduct, including obstructing criminal investigations, quashing audits, and misleading Congress.  He has been hired to independently monitor SIGAR's performance in implementing the recommendations of Council of Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE).  CIGIE is an independent government organization that reviews the work of inspectors general and found earlier this year a number of serious deficiencies in SIGAR's performance.

Beyond calling for Fields' dismissal and expressing outrage over the hiring of Schmitz, the senators also expressed their frustration with the president's failure to change SIGAR leadership sooner.

"We urge you to act now.  We are disappointed by your Administration's ongoing failure to take decisive action to improve SIGAR," they wrote in the letter.

CIGIE recently released three reviews of SIGAR, and found numerous problems with the agency's work, including their failure to meet minimum standards for their investigations.  The reviews also found that the agency has no meaningful strategic plan for their audits and investigations and that leadership at SIGAR remains more concerned with the quantity of their work rather than the quality.

A copy of the letter is available here.

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