This past Friday, the House voted on the Inflation Reduction Act, and it passed along party lines. You probably heard this bill talked about in the news because the Senate passed it a few days before and then sent it to the House.
My office got a LOT of calls from constituents who strongly opposed this bill – and for good reason. Remember last year when Democrats and President Biden spent months trying to rally support for Build Back Better? Well, the Inflation Reduction Act is basically the same bill that the Senate reworked and then sent back to us.
I opposed Build Back Better from day one last year. When I found out in November 2021 there was a proposal to give the IRS billions of dollars to hire new armed agents for no reason other than snooping in your personal business, I immediately offered an amendment to Build Back Better to fix this.
My amendment (which Democrats flatly rejected) would have prevented the IRS from hiring ANY new armed agents with this money. Despite all our efforts, the bill passed the House in November and then died in the Senate immediately.
Fast forward to a few weeks ago, Joe Manchin struck a deal with Chuck Schumer to revive Build Back Better under a new – and even more creative name – the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Don’t be fooled, though. This bill is just the 2022 version of Build Back Better, except now the IRS gets even MORE money to hire new agents. This time, its $80 billion for 87,000 new IRS agents.
What in the world does the IRS need with 87,000 new agents? The IRS already has around 80,000 employees, 4,600 guns, and 5 million rounds of ammunition. Democrats voted Friday to double the size of the IRS by spending $80 billion of your money for new employees.
Even worse, this bill did not include an income floor for who can be audited. Based on past numbers, this means there would be around 710,000 new audits on folks who make under $75,000 a year. If you’ve ever been audited by the IRS, you know it costs thousands of dollars to defend yourself against them and prove your innocence. Imagine what you could do with thousands of extra dollars in your pocket?
With all its new power, the IRS will have the ability to pry so much further into your private life. This is simply wrong, and it’s just one of the many reasons I opposed Build Back Better and the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 before the ink was even dry on the pages. The last thing America needs is yet another spending spree because we simply cannot spend our way into prosperity.
Thankfully, brighter days are just around the corner, and House Republicans will get the train back on the tracks when we secure a strong majority this November.
Jerry Carl represents Alabama’s First Congressional District. He lives in Mobile with his wife Tina
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