Exclusive — Rep. Ted Budd Amendment Would Redirect Billions in IRS Funding to Border Security

Rep. Ted Budd (R-NC) is planning to submit an amendment to the so-called Inflation Reduction Act on Wednesday that would redirect billions in Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding to boost border security, Breitbart News has learned exclusively.

Budd’s proposed amendment is in response to Democrats’ attempt to unleash the IRS on middle-class Americans by hiring more agents and massively bulking up IRS audits and criminal investigations to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. The amendment would redirect more than $69 billion of that funding to combat the U.S.-Mexico border crisis overseen by the Biden administration.

“Instead of hiring 87,000 more IRS agents to treat working families like tax cheats, that funding should be directed to the crisis on the southern border. In FY 2022, there have been over 500,000 ‘got-aways’ at the border, and 8,400 pounds of fentanyl has been seized,” Budd told Breitbart News in a statement. 

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BUDD — Amendment Redirecting IRS Funding to Border Security by Breitbart News on Scribd

While the amendment would retain $15 million for the IRS to create a free e-file system, it would redirect $25 billion to build the border wall, more than $20 billion to hire 10,000 more border patrol agents, and more than $20 billion to hire 10,000 more ICE Enforcement and Removal agents. It would also provide $3.87 billion in IRS funds to hire 366 immigration judges (bringing the total to 1,000) and 60 staff attorneys for the Board of Immigration Appeals.

“We should be devoting more resources to the Biden Border Crisis, instead of making life harder for working families who are struggling under the weight of the Biden Recession,” Budd added. 

Lastly, the amendment includes a bill Budd introduced in April, the “Build the Wall Now Act,” which is designed to counteract the Biden administration’s efforts to stall construction of the border wall. That bill would unlock $2.1 billion in unspent funding appropriated for its construction.

On Sunday, the Senate passed the $700 billion Inflation Reduction Act — a scaled-down version of the Build Back Better Act. The legislation focuses on reducing the deficit and curbing inflation, extending enhanced Obamacare subsidies, spending more than $300 billion on climate change programs, and allowing Medicare to negotiate the price of drugs. However, both the Penn Wharton Budget Model and the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) contend the legislation would not actually reduce inflation.

The Inflation Reduction Act will go up for a vote in the House on Friday. Barring any major developments, it is expected to pass.