Biden Pledges To Stop GOP Bill Targeting The Middle-Class

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The Biden administration is joining those in stated opposition to a bill recently passed by the new House GOP majority that would rescind tens of billions of dollars in additional funding for the IRS that was included in the Inflation Reduction Act.

That earlier bill was the result of lengthy negotiations among Dems over a budget reconciliation deal, legislation that took a procedural form that didn’t require any GOP support in the Senate to pass despite the filibuster rules there. A simple majority was all proponents needed. The money added to upcoming funding for the IRS is slated to help the agency with hiring tens of thousands of new employees, which would support both agency efforts to hold wealthier Americans accountable if they evade taxes and to assist everyday folks with questions. Ahead of the implementation of this new funding and the accompanying hiring ambitions it makes possible, the IRS was reported to have the same staff size it had in 1970, when its processing burden was obviously much smaller.

Undoing the additional funding would help wealthy taxpayers skip out on required payments, leaving it to those making less and perhaps most affected by government services that could struggle for funding to otherwise make up for missed funds. It would also leave the agency operating with less efficiency than it could achieve, hurting its ability to effectively serve those who own small businesses and others Republicans claim to seek to protect.

“For decades, some of our nation’s wealthiest individuals and richest corporations have failed to pay what they owe in taxes,” Vice President Kamala Harris said in prepared remarks. “Last year, President Joe Biden and I worked with Democrats in Congress to finally make sure everyone pays their fair share to help fund our schools, hospitals, military, and other critical priorities. Now, as one of their first acts in the majority, House Republicans are rushing to undo that progress and allow too many millionaires, billionaires, and corporations to cheat the system. As we have since we took office, President Biden and I will continue to fight to make sure all people in our nation play by the same rules.” Separately, the Biden admin also released a statement of administration policy insisting the president would veto the recently passed bill if presented with it and that he would also oppose any other legislation including roughly similar aims.

Republicans have pushed increasingly odd conspiracy theories about the nature of future IRS operations with the funding targeted by the House majority. Ted Cruz, the Texas Republican Senator, referred to “Biden’s shadow army of 87,000 IRS agents,” and fellow GOP Senator Chuck Grassley of Iowa alleged new agents could be “ready to shoot some small business person in Iowa.” A very small portion of IRS personnel carry weapons. Describing some kind of supposedly widespread threat to everyday Americans from agents using those weapons is objectively ridiculous.