Overview
Senate Passes Motion to Proceed With ACA Repeal Efforts: Today, the Senate voted 51-50 in favor of a motion to open debate on the ACA repeal efforts, with Vice President Pence casting the tie-breaking vote. Two Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) opposed the motion. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) delivered remarks on the Senate floor prior to the vote. The vote opens debate for a number of bills to be debated by the Senate.
Ways and Means Committee Holds Hearing on IRS Record Retention Policies: Today, the House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee held a hearing titled “IRS Electronic Record Retention Policies: Improving Compliance.” Delivering the opening statement, House Ways and Means Oversight Subcommittee Chairman Vern Buchanan (R-FL) said “[t]he production of IRS emails currently relies on the IRS’s ability to search thousands of employee hard drives; or, alternatively, each employee’s ability and willingness to print and file important emails,” neither of which is sufficient to satisfy the records requests received by the IRS. Chairman Buchanan also highlighted in his opening statement that the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration (TIGTA) found IRS policies do not comply with federal requirements and stated that the IRS has failed to move to an email system that can automatically archive employee emails.
The following witnesses testified at the hearing:
- Mr. Gregory Kutz
Assistant Inspector General for Audit, Management Services and Exempt Organizations, TIGTA
Testimony - Mr. Jeffrey Tribiano
Deputy Commissioner for Operations Support, IRS
Testimony - Mr. Edward Killen
Director of Privacy, Governmental Liaison, and Disclosure, IRS
Testimony
House Judiciary Committee Holds Hearing on States Regulating Beyond Their Borders: Today, the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Regulatory Reform, Commercial and Antitrust Law held a hearing titled “No Regulation Without Representation: H.R. 2887 and the Growing Problem of States Regulating Beyond Their Borders.” House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) delivered remarks during the hearing, stating that “states have become increasing aggressive in exporting regulatory burdens” and H.R. 2887 will “help[] curb state overregulation by restoring democratic accountability between the regulators and the regulated.” Andrew Moylan, director of the interstate commerce initiative for the National Taxpayers Union testified that “never before [have states] had so much incentive to target out-of-state entities with tax and regulatory enforcement actions” leading to “attempts to define virtually all conduct as subject to their reach.”
The following other witnesses also testified at the hearing: