11 months ago
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Newly elected Speaker of the House Mike Johnson is proving that he’s going to make his term as politically toxic as possible. With his first foray into policy-making, Johnson has taken aim not just at President Joe Biden and Democrats but also Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. On Monday, Johnson released the text of his Israel funding bill, which splits up aid for Ukraine and Israel and takes a bite out of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
Johnson wants to offset the $14.3 billion Israel aid package by cutting an equal amount from the IRA’s boosted IRS enforcement. He wants to force Democrats to take a divisive vote: Choose aid for Israel or one of their major policy accomplishments. Killing the additional funding for tax enforcement agents would help super-rich people cheat on their taxes, which is just a cherry on top for Johnson. It’s also a ridiculous policy for a supposed deficit hawk since the extra money the IRS collects from people cheating on their taxes reduces the deficit.
