HR0408 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR0408 LRB098 12249 MST 46398 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, Recent allegations against the conduct of the United States Internal Revenue Service (IRS) and its personnel have led to the resignation of former acting IRS commissioner Steven T. Miller; and

WHEREAS, In a hearing before the U.S. House Committee on Investigations, IRS divisional chief Lois Lerner pleaded her rights under the Fifth Amendment, an article of the Bill of Rights; and

WHEREAS, The last time members of the Illinois House of Representatives visited the National Archives, there were 10 amendments in the Bill of Rights, including the right to peaceably petition the government for a redress of their grievances (First Amendment) and the right to privacy against unreasonable search actions by law enforcement (Fourth Amendment); and

WHEREAS, Director Lerner's IRS division, the Exempt Organizations Unit, was responsible for the controversial "Target: Tea Party" initiative under which nonprofit organizations, seeking certification of their 501(c) rights, were subjected to onerous administrative delays and intrusive questioning by IRS bureaucrats; and

WHEREAS, Many Illinoisans will agree that the alleged conduct of the IRS, in singling out groups with grievances and subjecting them to privacy-violating bureaucratic search actions, appears to constitute not only violations of federal law, but also an outrageous violation of the spirit of the Bill of Rights; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we call upon the Unites States House of Representatives and the United States Senate to fully investigate the growing allegations against the Internal Revenue Services, including (but not limited to) the IRS's Exempt Organizations Unit within the IRS; and be it further

RESOLVED, We determine that should these congressional investigations continue to develop evidence of unlawful conduct by persons holding executive responsibilities within offices charged with immense power over the lives of private-sector Americans, that this investigatory work should be continued by the appointment of a special prosecutor within, but fully independent of, the United States Department of Justice, charged with continuing this case or cases and seeing that justice be done; and be it further

RESOLVED, We reaffirm our commitment, which we sealed with an oath when we began our service in the 98th Illinois General Assembly, to the entire U.S. Bill of Rights and the Constitution of the United States; and be it further

RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be presented to the President of the United States, the Attorney General of the United States, the Secretary of the Treasury of the United States, the acting commissioner of the United States Internal Revenue Service, the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives, the Senate Majority Leader of the United States Senate, Illinois Senators Richard J. Durbin and Mark Kirk, and to members of the Illinois delegation to the United States House of Representatives.