Source: United States Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND)
BISMARCK – U.S. Senator Kevin Cramer (R-ND) joined Senators James Lankford (R-OK) and Ben Sasse (R-NE) on a letter to Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration J. Russell George requesting a review of the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) processes for making tax-exempt status determinations, and the apparent failure of quality controls in the case of the Christians Engaged religious organization.
“Agents are trained to process applications in a neutral fashion, void of politics or agents’ personal beliefs, and with adherence to the law and the facts of each application,” the senators wrote. “With this process in mind, our concern for the neutral and respectful consideration of all applications, particularly for those with a religious or faith-based mission in light of the perceived hostility toward Christians Engaged in the IRS’s proposed adverse determination letter, has grown. It is important to ensure that the multiple steps the IRS identified, including layers of ‘quality control’ review, are indeed based on law and fact, and absent extraneous and inappropriate commentary. As an agency within the federal government, the IRS should take care to ensure no decisions are based on bias for or against a political or religious viewpoint.”
Senators Cramer, Lankford, and Sasse are joined on the letter by Senators John Barrasso (R-WY), Mike Braun (R-IN), Todd Young (R-IN), Steve Daines (R-MT), Jim Inhofe (R-OK), Rick Scott (R-FL), Tim Scott (R-SC), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS), and Marco Rubio (R-FL).