Newly elected House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) says that the first bill he wants to see passed is one to cut back funding for 87,000 new IRS agents, following a several-day-long fight over the speaker’s gavel.
“I know the night is late, but when we come back, our very first bill will repeal the funding for 87,000 new IRS agents,” McCarthy said on Jan. 7, moments after being nominated as speaker. McCarthy didn’t say exactly when the Republican-backed bill would be introduced on the House floor but said Republicans “believe government should be to help you, not go after you.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) in a recent letter said there’s legislation that’s “ready to go” that Republicans will bring to the House floor during the first two weeks of 2023. The Treasury Department estimated that in 2021, a nearly $80 billion investment in the IRS would allow the agency to hire about 86,852 full-time IRS employees—not agents—over the course of a decade….