Sen. Kennedy: Biden, Manchin will live to regret 'unleashing IRS on Americans'
Kennedy tells Harris Faulkner Democrats putting forth 'cathedral of lies' about IRS, taxes
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Sen. John Kennedy, R-La., said Thursday President Biden and Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.V., will regret bolstering the IRS as part of the Inflation Reduction Act.
"The purpose of the IRS provision in Senator Biden and Senator Manchin's inflation machine bill is to raise money. Just plain and simple, they're going to unleash the IRS on the American people," Kennedy told "The Faulkner Focus."
Kennedy said that he does not believe Biden’s insistence that the IRS will target the wealthy and not middle-class earners.
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"With respect, if he believes that, he also believes in the tooth fairy, the Easter Bunny, and that Jimmy Hoffa died of natural causes. I just don't believe that," Kennedy said.
WASHINGTON, DC - AUGUST 01: Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) gestures as he speaks to reporters in the Hart Senate Office building on August 01, 2022 in Washington, DC. Manchin, who returned to Capitol Hill after quarantining with Covid-19, spoke to reporters about the deal he reached with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn., chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) fired back against Biden over a provision in the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 that would spend billions of dollars to hire thousands of new IRS agents, and cautioned that the new bureaucrats could be used to target conservative groups.
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If passed, tens of billions of dollars from the bill would go toward hiring 87,000 new Internal Revenue Service (IRS) agents. The bill passed in the Senate on Sunday with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tiebreaking vote. It now heads to the House for a likely vote at the end of the week.
"Joe Biden is building an army of IRS agents to harass and bully the middle class. It’s something that should concern every American taxpayer. The IRS targeted conservatives during the Obama Administration, so it’s fair to wonder whether Joe Biden will use his new IRS Army to attack conservatives," said Emmer told Fox News Digital.
Kennedy argued that tax policy "should not be made in a civilized society on the basis of class warfare." Kennedy added that the IRS is "not exactly a model of fairness and efficiency."
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Kennedy said the IRS has a history, including Lois Lerner's targeting of conservative groups and "the recent releases of people's tax returns for political reasons."
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"We have given the IRS billions. I used to be in charge of their budget, billions of dollars to revamp their technology to make it easier for taxpayers. They've wasted every single penny of it. I think President Biden's going to live to regret this and so is Senator Manchin."
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Kennedy called it a "cathedral of lies" for Democrats to claim middle-class Americans' taxes will not increase as a result of the bill.