Republicans are urging Congress to pass aid for Israel without making cuts to the IRS, as the Biden administration had proposed. The administration's plan to increase funding for the IRS to crack down on tax evasion has faced opposition from Republicans, who argue that the focus should be on supporting Israel without tying it to other issues.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise defended Republicans' decision to cut funding for the IRS in order to provide aid to Israel in its conflict with Hamas. Scalise argued that addressing the national debt was crucial and that the IRS had received increased funding despite conservative criticism. He also refused to unequivocally state that the 2020 election was not stolen, instead raising concerns about changes to voting rules during the pandemic. Scalise's comments came during an interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos.
The House Republicans' plan to fund emergency aid to Israel by cutting the Internal Revenue Service's budget would increase the deficit by $90 billion over 10 years, according to the IRS commissioner. The proposed cuts would reduce audits of the wealthy and large corporations, hampering the agency's ability to collect revenue. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office previously estimated that the IRS expansion would cut the deficit by over $100 billion. The GOP bill does not specify how it would cut $14 billion from the IRS expansion, and it would also prohibit the CBO from counting the legislation against existing domestic spending caps. The IRS commissioner's estimate complicates the GOP's attempts to portray President Biden as fiscally irresponsible. Some Republicans have criticized the plan, while others see it as a strategy to attack federal spending and unify Republican support for the bill.