Cantor Wants to Allow Recordings of IRS Encounters

Majority Leader Eric Cantor plans to move bills to the House floor before the August recess specifically aimed at responding to the controversies surrounding the IRS.

The Virginia Republican also plans to schedule a vote on a bill prohibiting the IRS from implementing or enforcing Obamacare, Politico reports.

An aide to Cantor told the website that the bills will "give Republican members the ability to address the growing distrust of Washington emanating from recent scandals and stories, especially in the case of the IRS."

The planned bills would cover the IRS and other agencies. One of them would specifically allow people to record conversations with government officials.

Another, expected to be taken up this month, would put an end to lavish events for government workers, a response to revelations that the IRS spent tens of millions of dollars on employee conferences over a number of years.

A third would permit federal agencies to put senior career officials on investigative leave, with or without pay, when they are under investigation for serious abuses, while a separate measure would look to require the development and implementation of customer service systems at agencies, linking customer service to employee reviews.