Florida House Republicans All In on Defunding IRS

U.S. Capitol

It looks like the new Speaker of the House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) and House Republicans will begin to rewrite the Biden administration's first term in office. Monday night the House will vote on the Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act, which will defund the massive expansion of the IRS the Inflation Reduction Act intended to give.

"On the very first day, we’ll repeal the 87,000 new IRS agents because we think the government should be there to help you, not to go after you," stated Speaker McCarthy.

Rep. Cory Mills (R-FL-7) signals his intent to vote in favor of the bill in an afternoon tweet, saying "tonight at 9pm EST we will vote on the “Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection Act”. This allows us to rescind funding for the 87,000 IRS Agents. I will vote YES to defund these 87K IRS agents."

Prior to McCarthy's election, Rep. Scott Franklin (R-FL-18) stated his support of repealing the IRS in a thread criticizing the infighting among Republicans over electing McCarthy, saying that "Here’s a list of things we COULD be doing with our majority in Congress instead of continuing this pointless fight over the Speakership;" the third of which is "Putting a stop to the administration’s plan to hire 87,000 IRS agents; instead investing those resources to secure our border."

The day before on January 4th, Rep. Mike Waltz (R-FL-6) similarly said in a Fox News appearance that "Last night we were supposed to vote to rescind funding for 87k IRS agents, but we couldn’t because of a small group that's pushing for someone who doesn't even want the job. The Republican agenda is being held hostage. We must UNITE behind McCarthy & get to work."

New Year's Day, Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL-3) also stated a first order of business for the new House majority is defunding the 87,000 IRS agents. "Part of our #CommitmentToAmerica is an accountable government. We begin on Tuesday by reducing the number of IRS agents, checking the executive branch’s overreach, and ending proxy voting for House members. I talk about these plans with @JonScottFNC below.

Though the vote was delayed by a week, it nonetheless remains clear Florida Republicans are all on board.

Grayson Bakich

Florida born and raised, Grayson Bakich is a recent recipient of a Master’s Degree in Political Science at the University of Central Florida. His thesis examined recent trends in political polarization and how this leads into justification of violence.