Democrat members of the House of Representatives killed a Republican motion on Sunday aimed at protecting Americans from IRS surveillance of their private finances in the latest instance of Nancy Pelosi's caucus seeking to give government a larger and more intrusive role in Americans' lives.
The motion to recommit, brought to the House floor by Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX), would have stripped funding Democrats included in President Biden's budget bill to increase IRS enforcement and also prohibited the creation of an IRS program to spy on Americans' bank accounts.
Speaking on the floor in support of his motion, Rep. Brady — who also serves as the ranking member on the House Ways and Means Committee — said that "there is more than just nonsense in" the Build Back Better budget.
"My amendment is simple," Brady explained. "It stops Democrats from unleashing 80,000 new IRS agents on American taxpayers. More importantly, it blocks the House and the Senate from ever imposing a dangerous bank surveillance scheme targeting American families, farmers, and small businesses."
Ways and Means Ranking Member Kevin Brady torches the Build Back Better Act and urges support for his MTR to prohibit IRS surveillance of Americans' bank accounts. pic.twitter.com/u6xOWz2fi1
— Spencer Brown (@itsSpencerBrown) November 22, 2021
Brady's amendment is short and to the point:
The Secretary of the Treasury (including any delegate of the Secretary) may not require any financial institution to report the inflows or out-flows (or any similar amount, whether on a transaction or aggregate basis) of any account maintained by such institution, except to the extent that such reporting is required under any program, 10 or other provision of law, as in effect on October 1, 2021.
"The truth is the IRS doesn't need your private information, it has a record of targeting Americans based on their political beliefs," noted Brady. "In fact this year they discriminated again against a non-profit focused on biblical teachings and continues to fail to stop massive leaks of private taxpayer returns to the media."
"Our Democrat colleagues claim that bank surveillance is not in there — yet," Brady warned before saying "the Biden White House is still insisting" on the program aimed at surveilling Americans' everyday bank transactions.
Democrats ultimately defeated Rep. Brady's motion with 220 Democrat members voting against protecting Americans' private banking information.
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