Pelosi Says Three Days Needed to Read Bills

"Mr. Speaker, 16 days have come and gone since this House passed the Omnibus appropriations bill, and yet not one Member of Congress is willing to take responsibility for jeopardizing the privacy of more than 180 million American taxpayers. Instead, a Republican staff member came forward late last week stating that he inserted the provision without mentioning it to the Republican Member of Congress who employed him.

"Success, it is said, has many fathers. But failure is an orphan.

"Let us be clear -- This assault on taxpayer privacy has failed because it is an outrage to the American people and to most of the Members of this body.

"From the Constitution's provisions protecting freedom of association and political expression to its protections against unlawful searches and self-incrimination, our citizens expect and deserve a government that respects their privacy and does not discriminate against them on the basis of political beliefs. Yet the provision we are repealing today would have granted sweeping authority to the Appropriations Committee Chairmen and their staffs to review individual federal tax returns without the restrictions in current law that make it a crime to use private tax information improperly.

"As a result, private taxpayer information would be vulnerable to unwarranted scrutiny, and taxpayers would have no recourse or assurance against the improper use of their private financial information.

"This sweeping disregard for the protection of taxpayer privacy is deeply troubling, and all too familiar.

"Just 30 years ago, the Judiciary Committee of this House, on a bipartisan basis, voted to impeach President Nixon for violating the Constitution, including using the Internal Revenue Service to persecute those on his 'enemies list.'

"Article Two of the Articles of Impeachment specifically cited that President Nixon 'endeavored to obtain from the Internal Revenue Service, in violation of the Constitutional rights of citizens, confidential information contained in income tax returns. . . .'

"This disgraceful episode is a sad part of our history, but it was not all that long ago. In fact, the distinguished Ranking Member of the Ways and Means Committee, Mr. Rangel, and the distinguished Ranking Member of the Judiciary Committee, Mr. Conyers, were both serving on the Judiciary Committee in 1974, and they continue to serve here today.

"We are grateful for their steadfast courage and determination in defending our Constitution.

"They know that it is our constant duty to protect and defend our civil liberties, our freedoms, and the Constitution of the United States. That is the oath of office that we take and we must never let down our guard.

"Lacking the support of a majority of this body, this assault on taxpayer privacy was possible only because of the Republicans' repeated willingness to abuse of power.

"My colleagues, as we all know, the rules of this House mandate that Members be given a minimum of three days to review legislation. That is rule of the House. Yet, the Republican leadership frequently resorts to the use of "martial law" to push through legislation by requiring a same-day vote. In the 108th Congress alone, the Republican leadership has proposed same-day votes nearly 30 times.

"This excessive use of 'martial law' rules subverts the will of Congress by denying Members the opportunity to examine critical legislation, thus allowing egregious measures such as the taxpayer privacy persecution provision to pass. It was only caught in the Senate because they had more time to review the legislation.

"Mr. Speaker, the Supreme Court noted in an 1886 forfeiture case that, 'illegitimate and unconstitutional practices get their first footing. . . . by silent approaches and slight deviations from the legal modes of procedure.'

"Before us today is a glaring example of what can happen when 'slight deviations from legal modes of procedure' are allowed to go forward.

"To prevent future instances of hasty and dangerous decision- making, the House of Representatives must obey its own current rules that require Members of Congress be given at least three days to read legislation before voting on it.

"That is a rule of the House for all legislation. Why wouldn't it be even more important for a 3,000 page long bill containing nine appropriations bills, the omnibus bill, that had other extraneous matter in it as we can see.

"I urge my colleagues to remove this taxpayer privacy persecution provision and to demand an end to the irresponsible use of martial-law rules.

"Only if we determine to obey the rules of the House can we truly expect the American people to think that we realize what happened in this bill is wrong and that we are determined that it will not happen again."