Dear Mr. Chairman:
I am writing to request that the Committee invite additional witnesses to the hearing on October 9, 2013, entitled “Examining the IRS’s Role in Implementing and Enforcing ObamaCare." Although you have explained that the purpose of the hearing is to “focus on the operational challenges that the IRS faces in implementing" the Affordable Care Act (ACA), you have invited only a single witness from only one of the four key IRS offices charged with implementing the ACA. Attached is a copy of the organizational chart provided to the Committee by the IRS entitled “ACA Offices Within the IRS." This chart describes the four key offices tasked with implementing the ACA:
(1) Information Technology Division: This office has been tasked to “[p]rovide “overall direction and day-to-day management and oversight of ACA-related IT delivery for new and modified systems."
(2) Privacy, Governmental Liaison and Disclosure Office: This office has been tasked to “[m]onitor almost 300 federal & state agencies currently approved to receive tax data, to ensure compliance with 26 USC 6103."
(3) ACA Services and Enforcement Division: This office has been tasked to “[c]oordinate ACA across S&E operations in collaboration with ACA ACIO [Associate Chief Information Officer], Health CareCounsel and ACA Safeguards.
(4) Office of Health Care Counsel: This office has been tasked to “[c]oordinate ACA across Office of Chief Counsel in collaboration with the ACA ACIO, ACA Safeguards and ACA S&E PMO."[1]
On Sept. 25, 2013, you invited Sarah Hall Ingram to testify at the hearing in her capacity as Director of the ACA Office in the Services and Enforcement Division-the third IRS office listed above charged with implementing the ACA.[2]
If the Committee’s purpose for this hearing is in fact to examine the role of the IRS in implementing and enforcing the ACA, it is unclear why you have singled out Ms. Ingram and not invited officials from the other three offices involved. In order to adequately fulfill the stated purpose of Wednesday’s hearing, I request that the Committee invite officials from the other three offices to testify alongside Ms. Ingram. This will assist Committee Members in obtaining answers to questions relating to issues that may be outside Ms. Ingram’s purview.
In addition to these witnesses, it would also advance the purpose of the Committee’s hearing to obtain testimony from Acting IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel, who is charged with overseeing this entire effort at the IRS.
I believe the witness panel I have proposed would provide Committee Members with a much more informed and complete view of the efforts the IRS is engaged in to implement and enforce the ACA. Thank you for considering this request.
Sincerely,
Elijah E. Cummings
Ranking Member
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[1] Internal Revenue Service, ACA Offices Within the IRS (July 11, 2013).
[2] Letter from Chairman Darrell E. Issa, House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, to Sarah Hall Ingram, Director, Affordable Care Act Services and Enforcement Division, Internal Revenue Service (Sept. 25, 2013)
