On Sunday, House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, also a Republican from Louisiana, defended the IRS funding cuts in a package that was passed by the GOP-led House that would provide Israel with almost $14 billion in aid while it fights Hamas.
Last Thursday, the Israel aid bill, which was supported by Johnson, passed the House 226–196, primarily along party lines. Two Republicans voted against the bill, while twelve Democrats supported it. The bill, which would reduce IRS spending approved in President Joe Biden’s massive 2022 health, climate, and tax package, has little chance of passing the Senate, as stated by Democrats, and Biden has threatened to veto it.
During an appearance with “Fox News Sunday,” Johnson was asked to respond to criticism from Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer along with other congressional Democrats, who have cited a recent assessment from the Congressional Budget Office that predicted the proposal would increase the deficit by about $27 billion.
According to Johnson, Republicans are “trying to be good stewards of the taxpayers’ resources” and would like to balance expenditure as opposed to increasing printing or borrowing funds to aid our friends abroad. What an idea—we want to pay for it. We are making an effort to alter the way Washington operates.
Representative Brendan Boyle, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, maintained that Johnson is putting “deficit-busting tax giveaways for the wealthy over helping Israel,” as Shannon Bream of Fox News reported.
He replied, “Listen, we’re trying to take care of our priorities and we will,” to which Johnson replied. We will fulfill our duties because we are aware that these additional crucial steps are on the table and that we are working through them day by day and hour by hour. However, we must carry out these tasks in the correct sequence.
Scalise also supported the Republican-led Israel aid bill’s aim to reduce IRS money in an appearance with ABC News’s “This Week.”
“We enacted a bill that tackles two issues that our Defense Department discusses,” he declared. “First, we do provide Israel with the aid that it needs. However, when our generals appear before committees such as the Armed Services, they claim that our debt, not other nations like China and Russia, poses the greatest threat to our country. It’s our debt, they say.
He continued, “We addressed both in this bill.”
Some Democrats who voted against the bill claimed that, despite their support for funding to Israel, the IRS cuts prevented them from voting in favor of the legislation. The IRS was given financing with the goal of enforcing tax laws more strictly in order to raise income.
Democrats in the Senate and Biden have stated that they are in favor of a larger plan that would finance U.S. border operations, humanitarian relief for Gaza, and $106 billion in aid to both Israel and Ukraine.
Last week, Schumer swore that the GOP’s Israel aid package would not survive in the Senate. In a floor speech last week, Schumer stated, “I am pleased that the president issued a veto threat over this stunningly unserious proposal.” “The Senate will not take up this seriously flawed House GOP proposal.”