Whoops!

The Senate nearly passed a huge omnibus spending bill which contained language that would have allowed high-ranking legislators to look at your tax return for any reason -- regardless of any privacy laws or what-have-you.

Rep. Ernest Istook of Oklahoma apparently added this language (I assume when the differences between the house and senate bills were being ironed out, since he's a congressman and this is a Senate bill). As of this writing, no one has fessed up to the other fingerprints on it, but surely SOMEONE had to approve it. I imagine we'll soon see who that was -- or at least, a convenient patsy.

No one told the Democrats of the new language in the 3,300-page bill. They spotted it at the last minute, and were able to shame the Republicans into quickly backtracking, calling this language a mistake.

"Hereinafter, notwithstanding any other provision of law governing the disclosure of income tax returns or return information, upon written request of the Chairman of the House or Senate Committee on Appropriations, the Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Service shall allow agents designated by such Chairman access to Internal Revenue Service facilities and any tax returns or return information contained therein."

That's some typo, but completely understandable. Anyone using MS-Word that presses CTRL and then types INVADE PRIVACY AND PERSECUTE TROUBLEMAKERS with the caps-lock on will get the same paragraph. It's a little easter egg put in by our friends at Microsoft.

Seriously, though -- this is a heapin' helpin' of disingenuousness and ill will. Josh Marshall is on top of it.

Rob