U.S. Reps. Adrian Smith (R-NE) and Michelle Steel (R-CA) on Monday applauded passage by the U.S. House of the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act, which they introduced the same day to defund the Biden administration’s plan to hire 87,000 new IRS agents and block efforts to increase audits on middle-class families.
Rep. Smith on Jan. 9 sponsored H.R. 23, which also would preserve funding for customer service and IT modernization at the IRS. Rep. Steel is one of 82 Republican original cosponsors of the bill, which the U.S. House of Representatives on Monday passed with a 221-210 vote.
“The last thing the American people need right now are more audits from an out-of-control, bloated IRS,” Rep. Smith said. “Our bill leaves in place funding for customer service and IT improvements because IRS is in desperate need of reform, but it protects middle-class families from audits they cannot afford.”
“As a lifelong tax fighter, I am proud to introduce this legislation with Rep. Adrian Smith to rescind the funding for the Biden administration’s reckless attack on taxpayers and see it voted on as our new majority’s first order of business,” said Rep. Steel.
The unobligated balances of amounts appropriated or otherwise made available for activities of the IRS by the public law commonly known as the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 would be rescinded under an enacted H.R. 23, according to the text of the proposal.
“The Inflation Act funding for IRS would lead to the hiring of 87,000 new IRS employees tasked with raising enough revenue to pay for Democrats’ Green New Deal priorities,” Rep. Smith said. “This is unacceptable, which is why Rep. Steel and I are leading the House of Representatives in a bill to rescind this spending.”
Rep. Steel added that the administration’s $80 billion plan to hire 87,000 new IRS agents to conduct audits was “absurd” from the start. “Republicans are hitting the ground running to deliver on our promises to American families,” she added.