DeLay Rule, Absolute Power Corrupts Absolutely
Apparently the Republican majority tried to
slip in a provision
to make all your tax returns public property, together with some other
equally citizen hostile creations from the mind of Tom DeLay.
Some things, like the DeLay Rule, are outrageous but not that surprising.
But what I'm about to describe is outrageous and almost literally unbelievable.
As you've probably heard, the congress is pushing through a big omnibus spending bill this weekend.
And at the last minute, Republican leaders tried to slip in a
provision that would give certain committee chairman and their staffers
unlimited access to any American's tax return, with none of the standard privacy protections applying.
You heard that right.
They could pull anyone's tax return, read it over and do whatever
they wanted with the information. Those who would have this power would
be the chairs and ranking members of the senate and house
appropriations committees and subcommittees and "their designees."
The key is that the privacy rights provisions, and criminal and
civil penalties that go with them, don't apply for the appropriations
committees.
At the last minute, Senate Democrats caught the language (keep in
mind these omnibus bills can be like phone books), protested and the
Republicans beat a hasty retreat. Some of it is discussed in this AP article at MSNBC, though they lamely call it a "tax-disclosure gaffe."
The Republicans are acting like it was all an innocent mistake. And
it seems clear that there are Republican senators who didn't know
anything about it and are pissed. But clearly this was no accident,
unless provisions of laws have started to write themselves.
Late Update: Here is the text of the provision in question (emphasis added)
"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."
Even Later Update: Apparently the provision was
placed into the bill at the request of
Rep. Istook of Oklahoma. Istook is chairman of the House Appropriations
Transportation Subcommittee.
I'm not sure if it's relevant to what happened here, but the Treasury Department falls under the jurisdiction of Istook's subcommittee.
The anti-Ronnie Earle campaign is kicking off on the Texas Republican party website, along with a
petition
to strip Earle's office of jurisdiction over DeLay and Co.'s campaign
finance and other in proper use of public office shenanigans.
Breaking the law has consequences. And Tom DeLay is going to do
everything in his power to avoid them -- with the help of the House GOP
caucus, the Republican party of Texas, and of course the DeLay Machine,
which David Brooks rightly compares to the machine Boss Tweed ran in New York during the Gilded Age.
