Congress didn’t defund 87K IRS agents

One of President Biden’s signature legal guidelines – the Inflation Reduction Act, which handed in August of 2021 – consists of billions in new funding for the IRS.

That funding is sufficient for the IRS to rent an estimated 87,000 folks over the subsequent decade, in line with the Treasury Department. Many of these hires would change retiring staff, and the IRS has stated these hires could be instructed to focus their enforcement efforts on companies and rich tax evaders, not auditing small companies and middle-class taxpayers.

Republicans have referred to as for that funding to be revoked, making it one in every of their high coverage targets in Congress. 

One GOP lawmaker, Rep. Ashley Hinson of Iowa, not too long ago claimed that objective has already been achieved, tweeting: “It’s official – we just defunded the 87,000 new IRS agents.”

Did Congress defund 87,000 new IRS agents?

No, Congress has not defunded 87,000 IRS agents.

In the 2022 midterm election, Republicans gained a majority of seats within the U.S. House of Representatives. That majority took workplace in January 2023.

On Jan. 9, Rep. Adrian Smith (R-Neb.) launched the invoice H.R. 23, referred to as the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act.

The full text of the bill accommodates solely its title and one sentence, which states: “The unobligated balances of amounts appropriated or otherwise made available for activities of the Internal Revenue Service by [certain] paragraphs… of Public Law 117–169 (commonly known as the “Inflation Reduction Act of 2022”) as of the date of the enactment of this Act are rescinded.”

The invoice’s textual content is referring to the funding provided by the Inflation Reduction Act for enforcement and operations help on the Internal Revenue Service.

The invoice was handed the identical day it was launched, on a straight party-line vote – with 221 Republicans voting for and 210 Democrats voting towards. 

However, for the bill to take effect, it should be handed by the Senate and be signed by the president. Alternatively, if it handed the House and Senate however was vetoed by the president, it may nonetheless turn out to be legislation if Congress voted to override the veto with two-thirds majorities in each chambers.

The Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act has not been launched within the Senate, and is unlikely to turn out to be legislation given Democrats nonetheless management each the Senate and the White House. 

“Democrats won’t let it happen,” Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) stated in a statement.