Congressman Dave Camp (R-Midland, MI), Committee on Ways and Means chairman, and Oversight Subcommittee chairman Charles Boustany (R-LA) sent a letter to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Commissioner Douglas Shulman requesting details about reports that the Obama Administration will give the IRS one-half billion dollars to implement the Democrats’ health care law. 

In releasing the letter, the chairmen said: “These reports are just the tip of the iceberg, as the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has warned that the IRS could need up to $10 billion to implement the Democrats’ health care law over the next decade. This expansion of the IRS’ power and reach into Americans' daily lives includes the IRS verifying that you have acceptable health care coverage, penalizing you if you don’t and increasing audits. The American people deserve to know how and why this one-half billion in taxpayer dollars are being spent, and how many additional IRS agents, auditors and other workers are being hired to enforce all the hundreds of billions of dollars in new taxes and penalties in the Democrats’ health care law.” 

The letter specifically requests how many employees are being hired and which of the many tax increases in the health care law they will be working on. In March of 2010, on the eve of the Democrats’ health care takeover becoming law, Ways and Means Republicans released a report on how the law would vastly expand the responsibilities of the IRS. Camp and Boustany previously requested information on IRS spending on the health care law last April.The letter can be read here.