Identity theft is a lasting and devastating crime.  Victims spend years having to prove who they are while monitoring credit reports, fending off collection agencies or the IRS for charges they never made or wages they never earned.  Some are picked up by law enforcement for crimes committed by the ID thief using their name.  Americans have every reason to be… Read more

Good morning.  I would like to welcome all of you, especially South Korean Ambassador Han, to today’s Trade Subcommittee hearing on the U.S.-South Korea trade agreement.  Today’s hearing is the third in our series of hearings on each of the pending trade agreements: Colombia, Panama, and South Korea.  As I have said at each of the previous hearings, I firmly believe that… Read more

I’d like to begin today by first thanking our special guests for being with us today.  It is an honor to be joined by James Baker – who served as Chief of Staff during President Reagan’s first term and went on to shepherd the 1986 tax reforms through the Administration as Treasury Secretary – and by former Democratic Leader Dick Gephardt – who, along with Sen. Bill Bradley, helped… Read more

We have three purposes in today’s hearing. First, to learn about duplication in programs serving low-income children and families. Second, to ask whether, given that duplication, current programs are spending taxpayer money wisely.  And third, to consider how we can do better to help more of our neighbors in need become self-reliant. The most recent data on program duplication came… Read more

When Dr. Ethel Percy Andrus founded AARP in 1958, Medicare did not exist.  Dr. Andrus understood that seniors needed access to health insurance and found a solution.   What began as an organization that filled a need not yet met by society has grown and evolved over the last 50 plus years into AARP, Inc. and its affiliated entities.  With the establishment of Medicare… Read more

As Chairman Herger said in his opening statement, AARP was created with the praiseworthy goal of promoting independence, dignity, and enhancing the quality of life for older Americans.  Founded with this goal, it was incorporated under section 501(c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code.  This meant that in return for promoting social welfare and the common good, it would enjoy… Read more

I’m glad to see these witnesses here today, and I hope that during the course of this hearing we’ll be able to learn the answers to some questions that I’ve been asking since 2009.  That’s when I made my initial inquiries of AARP representatives to determine why this organization, whose stated mission is to represent the interests of America’s seniors, chose to actively lobby for a… Read more

Good morning.  I would like to welcome everyone to today’s hearing on the Internal Revenue Service and the 2011 Tax Return Filing Season.  Today’s conversation about the IRS should begin with a topic too often ignored: the taxpayer.  The National Taxpayer Advocate’s recent report to Congress provided some alarming facts on what the federal tax code has become, and how it… Read more

We meet today to consider H.R. 1232, a bill that restricts the use of taxpayer funds for abortion.  It is, we all know, not an issue that this Committee considers often, and it is certainly one that many of us have strong feelings about.  While I expect there will be differences of opinion today, I do hope that we will stand together in protecting the jurisdiction of this… Read more

I think every member of this committee, Republican and Democrat alike, would agree on one basic fact: The U.S. economy is not growing fast enough.  If the pace of private sector job creation does not increase significantly, the national unemployment rate will remain unacceptably “high” for at least another five years.  Currently, there are 14 million Americans who are… Read more