The House has passed a bill clawing back $80 billion that was to be used to expand the Internal Revenue Service through the hiring of some 87,000 new agents.
The vote, touted by new Speaker Kevin McCarthy as an instance of a promise made and kept, was 221-210.
Tea Party Patriots Action praised the action in a statement:
"During President Obama's time in the White House, Tea Party Patriots and other conservative groups were targeted by the IRS as part of a deliberate strategy of harassment and intimidation. TPP and our members have very good reason to fear an expanded, emboldened IRS — once again answering to a Democrat President. Defunding the IRS will protect our pocketbooks, in addition to safeguarding our civil liberties.”
Hours before the Monday night passage, President Joe Biden's Office of Management and Budget laid into a House Republican bill seeking to reverse new funding for the Internal Revenue Service, calling it "reckless."
"With their first economic legislation of the new Congress, House Republicans are making clear that their top economic priority is to allow the rich and multi-billion dollar corporations to skip out on their taxes, while making life harder for ordinary, middle-class families that pay the taxes they owe," the statement stated.
The White House also reiterated Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen's pledge that none of the new IRS funding passed in last year's Inflation Reduction Act would be used to target "small businesses or households with incomes below $400,000."
Passage of the bill was a top priority of McCarthy, who touted it in his ascension speech on Saturday: "You see, we believe government should be to help you — not go after you."
Other Republican priorities in the new term include pushing legislation to authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security to bar illegal aliens, prevent the Secretary of Energy from sending gas from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to China, and prohibit taxpayer-funded abortions.