Madam Speaker, I rise in support of the FY 2008 Financial Services Appropriations bill. This legislation funds a number of key federal government agencies with an emphasis on fairness, opportunity, appropriate market oversight and fiscal discipline.
We provide additional funding for taxpayer education and assistance as we work to close the estimated $290 billion tax gap. We reject the President’s proposed cuts for Small Business loans and economic development in our underserved communities to expand the American Dream. We strengthen appropriate oversight of our consumer and financial markets to protect the public health and tackle growing problems like identity theft. And we do it all for $243 million below the President’s budget request.
Fairness in government contracting and ending the ongoing abuse in the IRS’ private tax collection program are two issues I care deeply about. In that regard, I am gratified that the underlying legislation maintains the current bipartisan consensus regarding equitable contracting rules. But I am disappointed that our efforts to curtail the IRS’s seriously flawed private tax collection program were temporarily undermined by a procedural gimmick. The American taxpayer can rest assured that we are determined to end this kind of bounty-hunting activity once and for all and will do so at the earliest opportunity.