As Democrats seek to give the IRS nearly $80 billion in mandatory funding and put every American’s bank account information in the hands of the IRS, Ways and Means Republican Leader Rep. Kevin Brady (R-TX) and Rep. Mike Kelly (R-PA), Republican Leader for the Oversight Subcommittee will host a virtual roundtable titled “Weaponization of the IRS: A Sordid History and the Need for Taxpayer Protections” on Wednesday, September 29, at 11 am ET.

WITNESSES:

• Jay Sekulow, Chief Counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice. A key advocate who represented numerous tea party groups targeted by the IRS for their political beliefs during the Lois Lerner era.

• Bunni Pounds, President of Christians Engaged & Lea Patterson of First Liberty. Christians Engaged, represented by First Liberty, challenged the IRS after the group’s tax-exempt status was denied because, according to the agency, the group’s biblical teachings were “affiliated with the [republican] party.”

These witnesses will be able to discuss the real-world impact of political targeting at the IRS and the chilling effect it can have on Americans across the country.

THEMES FOR MEETING:
The meeting will highlight the efforts of congressional Democrats to nearly double the size of the IRS with a massive funding increase while doing nothing to address the weaponization of the IRS, including the massive, criminal leak of taxpayer information to ProPublica in June of this year.

Republicans will discuss their alternative approach to improving the IRS while protecting taxpayers in the process.

This meeting will take place remotely via Cisco WebEx video conferencing.

Members of the public may view the meeting via live webcast available on the Ways and Means Committee Republicans YouTube page HERE.