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A bill to amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the intentional discrimination of a person or organization by an employee of the Internal Revenue Service.
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the intentional discrimination of a person or organization by an employee of the Internal Revenue Service.
Summary
This bill amends federal criminal law to make it illegal for Internal Revenue Service employees to intentionally discriminate against or single out any person or organization for undue scrutiny based on their political, economic, or social positions or views. The bill specifically prohibits IRS officers and employees from targeting individuals or organizations because they have expressed particular political, economic, or social positions through lawful speech or writing. Violations would be punishable by fines and imprisonment for up to 10 years.
AI-generated plain-language summary of the bill text — neutral, and may be imperfect. See the full text below for the exact wording.
Sponsor (1)
- Sen. Cruz, Ted [R-TX] (R-TX)
5 cosponsors
- Sen. Blunt, Roy [R-MO] (R-MO)
- Sen. Grassley, Chuck [R-IA] (R-IA)
- Sen. Inhofe, James M. [R-OK] (R-OK)
- Sen. Lee, Mike [R-UT] (R-UT)
- Sen. Vitter, David [R-LA] (R-LA)
Money behind the sponsor
Top reported contributors to Ted Cruz’s campaign committee (2024 cycle) — who funds the bill’s sponsor, not a claim about this bill. Data from FEC.
- NULL $4,424,745
- ENTREPRENEUR $458,096
- RDV CORPORATION $39,600
- AMERICAN AIRLINES $29,632
- BLACKSTONE $27,400
Organizations whose employees gave the most — itemized individual contributions grouped by the donor’s reported employer (FEC Schedule A). Full finance for Ted Cruz → · Outside spending →
Actions (3)
- Jul 29, 2015 Committee on the Judiciary Subcommittee on Oversight, Agency Action, Federal Rights and Federal Courts. Hearings held. · senate
- Jan 28, 2015 Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. · senate
- Jan 28, 2015 Introduced in Senate
More bills on these subjects (8)
Other bills that carry the most legislative subjects in common with this one (topical discovery — distinct from the procedural related bills above).
Similar bills (6)
Bills with similar text or summary — includes reintroductions across Congresses. Ranked by semantic similarity of the bill text (computed locally); a neutral discovery aid, not a claim the bills are duplicates.
Text versions (1)
Bills are re-published as they move (Introduced → Reported → Engrossed → Enrolled …). Each stage below is a separate text; pick two to see what changed. Data from Congress.gov.
Full text
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
January 28, 2015
Mr. Cruz (for himself, Mr. Grassley, Mr. Inhofe, Mr. Vitter, and Mr. Blunt) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary
A BILL
To amend title 18, United States Code, to prohibit the intentional discrimination of a person or organization by an employee of the Internal Revenue Service.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. INTENTIONAL DISCRIMINATION BY EMPLOYEE OF THE INTERNAL REVENUE SERVICE.
(a) In General.—Chapter 93 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following: “Sec. 1925. Intentional discrimination by employee of the Internal Revenue Service
“(a) Offense.—It shall be unlawful for any officer or employee of the Internal Revenue Service to, regardless of whether the officer or employee is acting under color of law, willfully act with the intent to injure, oppress, threaten, intimidate, or single out and subject to undue scrutiny for purposes of harassment any person or organization in any State—
“(1) based solely or primarily on the political, economic, or social positions held or expressed by the person or organization; or
“(2) because the person or organization has expressed a particular political, economic, or social position using any words or writing allowed by law.
“(b) Penalty.—Any person who violates subsection (a) shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 10 years, or both.
“(c) Definition.—In this section, the term ‘State’ means a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States.”.
(b) Table of Sections.—The table of sections for chapter 93 of title 18, United States Code, is amended by inserting after the item relating to section 1924 the following:
“1925. Intentional discrimination by employee of the Internal Revenue Service.”. <all>
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