Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell made the following remarks on the Senate floor regarding the Obama Administration’s efforts to use the IRS to muzzle free speech:

“Earlier this week, President Obama explained to the American people what he hopes to accomplish in the year ahead. And I think it’s safe to say that despite the hype, there wasn’t a whole lot in this year’s State of the Union that would do much to alleviate the concerns and anxieties of most Americans.

“There wasn’t anything in there that would really address the kind of dramatic wage stagnation we’ve seen over the past several years among the middle-class, or the increasing difficulty people have had in finding stable, good-paying jobs. There was no creative proposal for increasingly mobility or opportunity for folks who need it most.

“Even more remarkable, the President completely ignored the serious hardship that folks in Kentucky and just about everywhere else in the country are dealing with right now as a result of his health care law. Just blew right past it like it wasn’t even happening.

“These are serious issues that demand a serious response. And if for some reason the President doesn’t want to face up to them, or offer meaningful solutions, Republicans will. We’ve got a lot of creative ideas on our side that speak to the day-to-day concerns of middle-class Americans. In the months ahead, we’ll keep talking about them. In fact, just this morning, the House Republican leadership reached out to the President in an effort to solicit his help in encouraging the Democrat leadership here in the Senate to take up House-passed jobs bills that do the types of things the President says he supports. Maybe that would be a good use of the President’s phone and pen.

“But this morning, I’d like to take a moment to address something else the President didn’t’ address on Tuesday, but that his administration is already quietly planning to do in the months ahead.

“I’m referring to the administration’s radical new proposal to codify the same kind of targeting of grass-roots groups that an independent Inspector General determined the IRS had engaged in in the run-up to the 2012 election.

“Now, I realize it just doesn’t seem possible to a lot of people that the Obama administration would even think of touching an issue this radioactive after last year’s scandal. But those who think that underestimate the extent to which this administration and its allies are willing to go to keep those who disagree with them from speaking out and participating in the political process. They underestimate the extent to which they’re willing to go to hold onto power. And they forget how speech is usually stifled.

“James Madison once wrote, quote, ‘I believe there are more instances of the abridgement of freedom of the people by gradual and silent encroachments by those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations.’ And that’s just what’s going on here.

“The fact is, right now the Obama administration is getting ready to codify the same kind of intimidation and harassment of its political opponents that stunned a nation last year. And hardly anybody’s talking about. Certainly not the President on Tuesday night.

“Well, it’s time we start talking about it. Because what the administration is planning here is nothing less than declaring a war not just on its opponents, but on free speech itself.

“Here’s their plan: the administration proposes to redefine political activity so broadly that grass-root groups all across the country that exist for the sole purpose of speaking out on issues of liberty or limited government or free enterprise or anything else that the administration doesn’t want to hear about will be forced to shut down.

“Just by speaking out on these issues of broad public concern, they’d be ruled out of bounds under new IRS rules — just in time, by the way, for the mid-term elections. If you think that this kind of speech is precisely what the First Amendment was written to protect, you’d be right. So this is a hugely important. And that’s why groups all along the political spectrum, and the folks that support them, are increasingly concerned.

“Now, as usual, the folks who are pushing this new assault on speech tell us it’s some kind of good-government proposal that increases transparency. But the truth is, the only thing transparent here is the administration’s thuggish attempt to shut down its critics.

“It’s really incredible when you think about it. Democrats think 2014 is shaping up to be a tough year for them politically. So instead of trying to persuade the public that they’ve got the best answers to the problems we face, they try to shut everybody else out of the political process — they try to shut them up.
And they have no problem using the powers of government to do it — less than a year after presiding over one of the biggest abuses of government power in modern memory.

“The arrogance here is just breathtaking.

“But we’ve seen this kind of thing again and again from our liberal friends over the years.
They just can’t accept a public that disagrees with their plans for the country. They just can’t seem to accept a society in which ‘we the people’ establish the rules, not them. And whether it’s the Fairness Doctrine, or the DISCLOSE Act, they want those who disagree with them to sit down and shut up.

“Their view is: You can fight for your ideals. You can speak out — but only if you agree with me. If you’re on the other side, you don’t have a right to speak out. And not only that, I’m going to put you out of business. I’m going to use the IRS to identify anybody who disagrees with me and shut them up. And I’m doing it through regulation, because I can’t pass it through legislation.

“This is just one way the President plans to go around the peoples’ elected representatives this year. And every American needs to know about this abuse of power. Let me be clear: what the administration is proposing poses a grave threat to the ability of ordinary Americans to freely participate in the Democratic process.

“Rather than reform the IRS and root out any hint of corruption or targeting of political opponents, they’re now proposing to codify it. Fearful of losing the Senate, they’ve decided to double down. Instead of getting the IRS out of the business of policing speech, they want to make it the final arbiter of political speech.

“Some may ask, why is the IRS, an agency whose purpose is to collect taxes, even involved in muzzling speech. How’d that happen? Good question. It shouldn’t be. And the Administration needs to start explaining to the American people why it’s engaging in this abuse of power — especially after last year. The administration may believe the smoke has cleared, but I don’t think the American people see it that way.

“I think that if the American people knew what the administration was really up to, they’d react with the same kind of outrage they did last year about the targeting of conservatives at the IRS.

“And that’s why the new IRS commissioner has a simple choice: he can either restore the public’s trust in an agency whose reputation was already in doubt, or he can allow himself to be used as a political pawn by an administration that now seems willing to do anything to keep those it disagrees with from fully exercising their constitutionally-protected right to free speech.

“After recent scandals the IRS shouldn’t be getting more involved in what people can and cannot say, but less. Commissioner Koskinen must take a stand against this kind of thuggery and make it clear to a nervous public that his agency will not engage in any more government-sanctioned crackdowns on speech.

“You know, the President made what I think was a pretty revealing comment in a recent interview when he was asked about his inability to break through with certain Republicans. Rather than concede that they may have a different worldview or that they disagree with his approach to the issues of the day, he blamed Fox News and Rush Limbaugh of somehow convincing folks that he’s somebody he isn’t.

“Well, I think a far more likely explanation is that the president does stuff like this. I think a more likely explanation is that in the sixth year of his presidency he’d rather blow kisses to his liberal base than work with Republicans to create jobs and increase opportunity and prosperity for the millions of Americans who are really struggling out there. Rather than let people from one end of the political spectrum to the other duke it out through robust public debate, he wants to use the IRS to drive conservatives right off the playing field.

“That, Mr. President, is a better explanation for why ordinary conservatives across the country aren’t buying the idea that you’re some kind of pragmatic problem-solver instead of a liberal ideologue who seems more interested in shutting down your critics than in working with us to address the nation’s most urgent problems. 

“Just two nights ago, the President sought to unite the country around the argument that as Americans, we never give up. What I’m saying this morning is that even while he’s saying that, he’s also busy kicking the ladder out from under anybody who disagrees with him. That’s just what this new IRS proposal does. And Republicans plan to fight it every step of the way.”