Biden: Republicans Want to Make Sure We Don’t Have Enough IRS Agents

(CNSNews.com) – President Biden complained Friday that Republicans want to make sure “we don’t have enough IRS agents” to go after the “super wealthy.”

During a speech on the February jobs report, Biden said he was informed by his staff that the Freedom Caucus is demanding that Biden agree to a set of spending cuts and budget proposals before they will consider voting to raise the debt ceiling.

“And, by the way, you know, when we talk about what’s — what their — I just saw — my staff handed me as I was coming in — the House Freedom Caucus. There’s members of the House Caucus who will consider voting to raise the debt ceiling contingent upon the enactment of legislation,” the president said.

“You know what the essence of the enacting legislation is? Cut all spending other than defense by 25 percent. Twenty-five percent across the board. Now, that means cops, firefighters. It means healthcare,” he said.

“It means — that’s just — what they call ‘discretionary spending,’ as you all know, and, on top of that, the — what they’re really focused on — I saw here — we’ll get — I shouldn’t get into all this now, but — is — but it kind of surprised me. They — they want to make sure we don’t have enough IRS agents,” Biden said.

“You know those IRS agents we had? They’re going to check on the accounts of — for the super-wealthy, which would require a lot of accounting, a lot of agents to look at it. They want to get rid of them,” the president said, referring to the hiring of 87,000 new IRS agents as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Meanwhile, the White House said that “extreme MAGA House Republicans showed us what they value: tax breaks for the super wealthy and wasteful spending for special interests.”
 
“The House Freedom caucus’ proposal would be a gut-punch to the American middle class and wouldn’t cut the deficit. Let me repeat that: this proposal would bring devastating consequences to our national security, working families, and community safety, and result in $0 in deficit reduction when coupled with MAGA Republicans’ support for trillions in tax cuts,” White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement. 
 
“Extreme MAGA Republicans’ proposals would ship manufacturing jobs overseas, in a crushing blow to states from Ohio to Georgia to Arizona – and would provide a windfall of economic benefits to China,” the press secretary said.

“They would increase health care premiums for nearly 15 million Americans and make the biggest Medicare benefits cut in decades, forcing America’s seniors to pay more for prescription drugs so Big Pharma can see new taxpayer handouts,” she said.

“They would defund the police, weaken our competition with China, and slash border security funding. All so that the super-wealthy and corporate special interests can enjoy their tax breaks and cheat on their taxes. This is a blueprint for selling out the middle class, law enforcement, and American competitiveness,” Jean-Pierre said.
 
“Yesterday, the President laid out his budget – one that lowers costs for families, protects Medicare and Social Security, invests in more manufacturing, positions the United States to win the global competition with China, strengthens our defense, funds the police, and reinforces the border. This is what he values – and poll after poll shows Americans agree,” she added.

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