Kenny Marchant RSS Articles

Congressman Marchant Questions at Ways and Means Hearing on IRS Scandal

Fri, 17 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Washington, D.C. – Today, the House Ways and Means Committee held its first hearing on the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) targeting of conservative groups. Congressman Marchant issued the following statement after the hearing:

“I have long been concerned about such discriminatory attacks on first amendment rights by the IRS, and in fact, sent then IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman a letter in March 2012 asking for an explanation of this unacceptable behavior. In an Oversight Subcommittee hearing in July 2012, I followed up with questions on the same topic. In each of these circumstances I was assured that there was no such political targeting.

“These actions by the IRS are outrageous and unacceptable. What makes this even more troubling is that this agency will soon be entrusted with Americans’ healthcare information under Obamacare. Because of this, I have cosponsored the Keep the IRS Off Your Healthcare Act, legislation that would prohibit the IRS from implementing or enforcing any provisions of the president’s health care law. In the meantime, my colleagues and I will continue our investigation to find out who knew what was going on and ultimately hold those people accountable for their actions. I commend Chairman Dave Camp and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Charles Boustany for moving forward with a full investigation.”

For more information on his past work on this issue, click here. To watch video of his questions today, click here.

Marchant Votes for Full Repeal of Obamacare

Thu, 16 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Washington, D.C. – Today, the House passed H.R. 45, legislation that would fully repeal Obamacare. Congressman Marchant issued the following statement upon passage:

“It seems like each day a new study or report is released that warns of the dangerous implications that come from Obamacare’s implementation. This law is hurting American job prospects, raising insurance premiums, increasing deficits and will reduce the quality of American healthcare. Therefore it is not surprising that several Senate Democrats have recently expressed their frustrations with this legislative ‘train wreck.’ Recently, even some Members of Congress have even considered measures to exempt themselves and their staffs.

“This approach is wrong, as all Americans should be exempt from this disastrous health care law. Today, in a bipartisan vote, the House passed legislation that does just that. This law must be repealed now so that we can get to work on reforms that lower costs, improve the quality of healthcare and protect jobs.”

Background:

5/14/13: Congressman Marchant’s op-ed in The Hill: Worst parts of Obama’s unpopular healthcare law coming soon

5/16/13: Congressman Marchant Pushes for Obamacare Repeal on the House Floor

The Hill: Worst parts of Obama’s unpopular healthcare law coming soon

Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Worst parts of Obama’s unpopular healthcare law coming soon

Kenny Marchant (R-TX-24)

The Hill

May 14, 2013

When President Obama and Congressional Democrats drafted their healthcare reform law, ObamaCare, they front-loaded what they considered “popular” provisions in order to make it more palatable to the American public before the rest of the law would take effect in 2014. These provisions included allowing “children” up to the age of 26 to stay on their parents’ insurance plan and creating an underfunded insurance pool for people with preexisting conditions.

How did this front-loaded plan fare? Well, according to a new survey from the Kaiser Family Foundation, ObamaCare today remains deeply unpopular among Americans, with only 35 percent holding a favorable view of the law. This should be very concerning to Democrats, and reports of Senate Democrats voicing their frustration and concerns with the law have been streaming into the news. One of the bill’s chief architects, Sen. Max Baucus (D-Mont.), even went as far as to predict a coming “train wreck” for implementation of the law, and Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) echoed that sentiment days later.

It seems like each day a new study or report is released that finds serious consequences coming from the law’s implementation. The law is significantly raising insurance premiums, will add to our federal deficits, reduce the quality of healthcare Americans receive, and it is already having dramatic consequences on our economy as businesses wrestle with the law’s onerous penalties and regulations. This was evidenced in the latest jobs report, which showed an increase in the number of part-time workers and a decrease in the average number of hours worked each week.

Recently, it was even reported that members of Congress were looking for ways to carve out an exemption from the law for themselves and their staffs. I will oppose any such efforts, and House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) has made it clear that he will not sneak any legislation into bills to solve the Democrats’ healthcare problems. Democrats in Congress are now realizing what Americans and businesses across the country already knew — this law is going to severely affect their own healthcare options. Rather than carve out an exemption for themselves, why not exempt all Americans from this coming train wreck?

House Republicans are preparing to once again vote on a full repeal of this disastrous healthcare law. Some will chastise this as a futile exercise, but it is not. A recent Fox News poll found that even 56 percent of Democrats nationwide now find the 15,000-plus pages of ObamaCare regulations “way over the top.” Congress has now had the chance to see first-hand how flawed this bill is, and this will give members in the House an opportunity to change their position. Furthermore, this will give freshman Republicans and Democrats an opportunity to show where they stand on the issue.

That Kaiser poll also found that 49 percent of Americans say they don’t have enough information yet to understand how ObamaCare will affect their own families. This should terrify proponents of the bill. Since the popular provisions were front-loaded, what is left to come are penalties, premium hikes, less jobs, reduced hours and a decline in the quality of our healthcare. This makes it difficult to see how the law becomes more popular over time.

So, with everything we know now about the law, do Democrats still support ObamaCare? Let’s find out.

Marchant is a member of both the House Ways and Means Committee and the Committee on Education and the Workforce.

To read on The Hill’s website, click here.

AP: TOP IRS OFFICIAL DIDN'T REVEAL TEA PARTY TARGETING

Tue, 14 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — Congress was not told tea party groups were being inappropriately targeted by the Internal Revenue Service, even after acting agency Chief Steven Miller had been briefed on the matter.

Miller was first informed on May, 3, 2012, that applications for tax-exempt status by tea party groups were inappropriately singled out for extra scrutiny, the IRS said Monday.

At least twice after the briefing, Miller wrote letters to members of Congress to explain the process of reviewing applications for tax-exempt status without disclosing that tea party groups had been targeted. On July 25, 2012, Miller testified before the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee, but again did not mention the additional scrutiny — despite being asked about it.

At the hearing, Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Texas, told Miller that some politically active tax-exempt groups in his district had complained about being harassed. Marchant did not explicitly ask if tea party groups were being targeted. But he did ask how applications were handled.

Miller responded, "We did group those organizations together to ensure consistency, to ensure quality. We continue to work those cases," according to a transcript on the committee's website.

Earlier, Rep. Charles Boustany, R-La., had raised concerns with the IRS about complaints that tea party groups were being harassed. Boustany specifically mentioned tea party groups in his inquiry.

But in a June 15, 2012, letter to Boustany, Miller said that when the IRS saw an increase in applications from groups that were involved in political activity, the agency "took steps to coordinate the handling of the case to ensure consistency."

He added that agents worked with tax law experts "to develop approaches and materials that could be helpful to the agents working the cases."

Miller did not mention that in 2011, those materials included a list of words to watch for, such as "tea party" and "patriot." He also didn't disclose that in January 2012, the criteria for additional screening was updated to include references to the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.

The House Ways and Means Committee, chaired by GOP Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan, is holding a hearing on the issue Friday and Miller is scheduled to testify.

The Senate Finance Committee announced Monday that it will join a growing list of congressional committees investigating the matter.

The IRS apologized Friday for what it acknowledged was "inappropriate" targeting of conservative political groups during the 2012 election to see whether they were violating their tax-exempt status. In some cases, the IRS acknowledged, agents inappropriately asked for lists of donors.

The agency blamed low-level employees in a Cincinnati office, saying no high-level officials were aware.

When members of Congress repeatedly raised concerns with the IRS about complaints that tea party groups were being harassed last year, a deputy IRS commissioner took the lead in assuring lawmakers that the additional scrutiny was a legitimate part of the screening process.

That deputy commissioner was Miller, who is now the acting head of the agency.

Camp and other members of the Ways and Means Committee sent at least four inquiries to the IRS, starting in June 2011. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch, the top Republican on the Senate Finance Committee, sent three inquiries. And Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., chairman of the House oversight committee, sent at least one.

None of the responses they received from the IRS acknowledged that conservative groups had ever been targeted, including a response to Hatch dated Sept. 11, 2012 — four months after Miller had been briefed.

In several letters to members of Congress, Miller went into painstaking detail about how applications for tax-exempt status were screened. But he never mentioned that conservative groups were being targeted, even though people working under him knew as early as June 2011 that tea party groups were being targeted, according to an upcoming report by the agency's inspector general.

The IRS issued a statement Monday saying that Miller had been briefed on May 3, 2012 "that some specific applications were improperly identified by name and sent to the (exempt organizations) centralized processing unit for further review." That was the unit in Cincinnati that handled the tea party applications.

Miller became acting commissioner in November, after Commissioner Douglas Shulman completed his five-year term. Shulman had been appointed by President George W. Bush.

On June 29, 2011, Lois G. Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt organizations, learned at a meeting that groups were being targeted, according to a draft of the report by the Treasury inspector general for tax administration.

At the meeting, Lerner was told that groups with "Tea Party," ''Patriot" or "9/12 Project" in their names were being flagged for additional and often burdensome scrutiny, the report says. Lerner instructed agents to change the criteria for flagging groups "immediately."

However, when Lerner responded to inquiries from the House oversight committee, she didn't mention the fact that tea party groups had ever been targeted. Her responses included 45-page letters in May 2012 to Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., who chairs the committee, and Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, who chairs a subcommittee.

Lerner also met twice with staff from the House Ways and Means oversight subcommittee to discuss the issue, in March and in May 2012, according to a timeline constructed by committee staff. She didn't mention at either meeting that conservative groups had been targeted, according to the timeline.

On Monday, President Barack Obama said he first learned about the issue from news reports on Friday. White House spokesman Jay Carney said the White House counsel's office was alerted the week of April 22 that the inspector general was finishing a report concerning the IRS office in Cincinnati. But, he said, the counsel's office did not get the report and the president did not learn the focus until Friday.

"If, in fact, IRS personnel engaged in the kind of practices that had been reported on and were intentionally targeting conservative groups, then that's outrageous and there's no place for it," Obama said Monday at a press conference.

Congressman Marchant Statement on IRS Controversy

Mon, 13 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Kenny Marchant (TX-24), member of the House Ways and Means Subcommittee on Oversight, issued the following statement over the growing Internal Revenue Service (IRS) controversy:

“I have long been concerned with reports that the IRS has unfairly targeted some political groups over others – a charge that they have repeatedly denied. In March 2012, I sent IRS Commissioner Doug Shulman a letter demanding an explanation of this unacceptable behavior. Now, more than a year later, the IRS has admitted to what we have long suspected – it was targeting tea party groups. The IRS’s actions are unacceptable, and I commend Chairman Dave Camp and Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Charles Boustany for moving forward with a full investigation. We will continue to work to ensure there are protections in place so no American, regardless of political affiliation, has their right to free speech threatened by the IRS.”

A digital copy of Congressman Marchant’s letter to the IRS on March 28, 2012 can be found here.

House Passes Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013

Wed, 08 May 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Washington, D.C. – Today, the House passed H.R. 1406, the Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013. This legislation amends the Fair Labor Standards Act to allow private sector employers and employees to establish agreements that provide for compensatory time off instead of monetary overtime compensation – an option that is currently available for federal, state, and local government employees. Congressman Kenny Marchant (TX-24), a cosponsor of the bill, issued the following statement upon passage:

“The Working Families Flexibility Act of 2013 would modernize an outdated federal mandate and give working parents more control of their time. The status quo in Washington continues to make life difficult for hardworking taxpayers – keeping outdated laws and regulations on the books, imposing higher health care costs, and standing in the way of all-of-the-above energy solutions. This legislation would provide increased choice to businesses and their employees on how to compensate for overtime work."

Under this legislation, the decision by the employer to offer comp time and the decision by the employee to choose comp time in lieu of overtime wages is completely voluntary. No employer is required to offer comp time and no employee is required to choose comp time instead of overtime cash wages. Employees who prefer to receive cash wages for overtime work can still do so.

For more information on this legislation, click here.

Phuong Nguyen of Carrollton wins the 2013 Congressional Art Competition

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Southlake, TX – On Sunday, April 28^th, at the Art in the Square festival in Southlake, Phuong Nguyen of Carrollton won the Congressional Art Competition. She is an 11^th grade student at Newman Smith High School of Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District.

“I would like to congratulate Phuong on this achievement,” said Congressman Kenny Marchant (TX-24). “Phuong competed with over 200 pieces of artwork from the 24^th Congressional District that were entered into the contest. While there were many amazing pieces submitted from students across the district, Phuong’s work is truly outstanding.”

Phuong Nguyen‘s painting, entitled The Woods at the Manske, exemplified both creativity and skill. She used acrylic paint on plywood instead of a canvas. Using the flow of the grain and the color of the wood, Nguyen created a beautiful autumn scene of a pond at dusk.

As the winner of the 24^th Congressional District Art Competition, Phuong Nguyen’s painting will be displayed in the U.S. Capitol for an entire year along with the winners from Congressional Districts throughout the country. Ms. Nguyen and a guest will travel to Washington for an annual awards ceremony at a date to be determined.

Congressman Marchant Questions Unnecessary FAA Furloughs

Wed, 24 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Kenny Marchant (TX-24), whose district includes Dallas/ Fort Worth International Airport, sent the following letter addressing his concerns over the recent Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) air traffic controller furloughs to Administrator Michael P. Huerta:

April 24, 2013

The Honorable Michael P. Huerta

Administrator

Federal Aviation Administration

800 Independence Ave., SW

Washington, DC 20591

Dear Administrator Huerta:

I am writing to you regarding the Federal Aviation Administration’s (FAA) recently announced furloughs of air traffic controllers. I am honored to represent one of the busiest airports in the world, Dallas/Ft. Worth International Airport (DFW). DFW is the life blood of my Congressional district and an economic engine for North Texas. I am very concerned that recent actions by the FAA will impair economic growth and cause needless frustrations for the traveling public.

Though the FAA had a significant amount of advance notice to implement budget cuts, the FAA gave the airlines and traveling public only a few days to plan for travel interruptions. Additionally, the FAA has not provided any rational basis for explaining its judgment in assigning furloughs to certain controllers. Across the board furloughs for our air traffic control system does not make sense, especially when no preference is given to large airports or highly traveled air corridors that require more controllers than lesser used airports or air corridors.

I am very concerned that the FAA continues to fund programs that are not directly essential to ensuring the safety of the traveling public, while at the same time issuing furloughs to air traffic controllers. The FAA’s continued high spending on consultants, supplies, and employee travel are ripe for being reduced in lieu of furloughing air traffic controllers. The FAA has $2.7 billion in non-personnel operations costs. I would appreciate hearing from you regarding ways that the FAA can reduce its $2.7 billion non-personnel operations costs that would meet deficit reduction targets without impacting the traveling public.

As you are aware, FAA’s funding has increased more than 100% since 1996, yet domestic flights are down 27% since 2000. The American people demand value for their hard earned taxpayer dollars and should not be subject to needless flight delays. I call on the FAA to use its vested authority to immediately rescind the furloughs of air traffic controllers and replace the budget savings with reductions to the agency’s non-personnel operations costs.

Thank you for your attention to this request and I look forward to your prompt response. Should you have any questions regarding this correspondence, please feel free to contact me, or my Legislative Director, Scott Cunningham.

Sincerely,

Kenny Marchant

Member of Congress

For a digital copy of the letter, click here.

Tax Reform Working Group Progress and Next Steps

Tue, 16 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Washington, D.C. – Today, Congressman Kenny Marchant (TX-24) issued the following statement on the public comments received by the Tax Reform Working Group on Debt, Equity and Capital:

“The Ways and Means Committee has set out an ambitious, but necessary, comprehensive reform of the tax code. Work is proceeding across a number of fronts to advance this agenda and solid progress is being made by the Working Group on Debt, Equity and Capital. The group has received valuable input from constituents, policy experts, academics, and industry stakeholders. I am very grateful for the public comments received and welcome further input as we work to make our tax code simpler, flatter and fairer for all Americans.”

The comments received by April 15 will be presented to the Joint Committee on Taxation shortly and the Ways and Means Committee in early May. Comments received to date have been posted on the Ways and Means website. Collecting further feedback on debt, equity and capital tax structures will be critical to better understanding market dimensions, unintended consequences, and policy gaps. Congressman Marchant encourages feedback from all interested parties by e-mail at marchant.tx24@mail.house.gov.

The Working Group on Debt, Equity and Capital is chaired by Congressman Kenny Marchant and co-chaired by Congressman Jim McDermott (D-WA). The group is one of eleven bipartisan groups established by the Ways and Means Committee to inform its work on comprehensive tax reform.

Congressman Marchant's Dallas Morning News Op-Ed: It’s high time we tamed our out-of-control tax code

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 04:00:00 GMT

Each year during tax season, American citizens and businesses are often surprised to learn the amount of their annual tax bill. This uncertainty is a direct result of a staggering 4 million-word tax code filled with confusing deductions and loopholes that make it difficult to understand and file tax returns.

In fact, the IRS’ own taxpayer advocate estimates that only 10 percent of individual filers will complete their own returns this year, with the rest choosing to pay someone else or purchase commercial software to help them.

What’s the cost? Each year American businesses and individuals spend over 6 billion cumulative hours complying with tax filing requirements at a cost to the economy of as much as $400 billion. Making this untenable situation worse is Obamacare. Not only does it increase current taxes and invent new taxes, but it requires every taxpayer to prove adequate levels of health insurance coverage to the IRS.

The basic fact is that the tax code is overly complex and out of date. It places an enormous burden on families and businesses and needs to be reformed and simplified. That’s the goal of Congress’ chief tax writing body, the House Ways and Means Committee, on which I have the privilege to serve. This year we are moving forward to achieve comprehensive, revenue-neutral tax reform.

Indeed, Speaker John Boehner has given our tax reform bill the coveted legislative designation of HR 1, signaling that this is the top priority of House Republicans this year.

Recently, I was fortunate to be selected by Ways and Means Chairman Dave Camp to chair the Tax Reform Working Group on Debt, Equity and Capital. It’s one of 11 bipartisan working groups created by Camp to study policies that can help achieve revenue-neutral tax reform. My group is collecting information from constituents, stakeholders and policy experts, then will relay our findings to the full committee. They will use our findings on issues ranging from business debt and equity to capital gains and carried interest to help write a comprehensive simplification of the entire federal tax code.

Our tax code has not had a major rewrite in over 25 years, when in 1986 President Ronald Reagan worked with congressional Democrats to achieve a historic reform that simplified the tax code, lowered rates and broadened the tax base without imposing a higher tax burden on the U.S. economy.

Today our corporate tax rate is the highest of any nation in the world, and many small businesses are burdened by federal tax rates of almost 40 percent. This is not a recipe for economic growth and is why the issue must be addressed now.

Accomplishing tax reform will not be easy. Competing interest groups that have long enjoyed certain loopholes will seek to protect deductions. But with an economy growing at just 0.4 percent, with 12 million Americans out of work, with a national debt approaching $17 trillion and with 48 million Americans on food stamps, we must simplify the tax code to help strengthen the economy. Families and businesses paying taxes throughout the year should not be burdened by an additional round of time-consuming and expensive tax filing headaches. Americans deserve better.

Rep. Kenny Marchant, R-Coppell, is a member of the House Ways and Means Committee and chairman of the Tax Reform Working Group on Debt, Equity and Capital. He can be contacted through marchant.house.gov.

To read on the Dallas Morning News’ website, click here.