No. of Recommendations: 13
New House Speaker Mike Johnson begins his speakership with perhaps the stupidest first action in contemporary House history: putting Jews' lives in danger to protect billionaire tax cheats.
Johnson has decided to split the funding of the wars in Israel and Ukraine, as well as protection of the southern border and the Indo-Pacific, only putting forward an emergency defense spending package for Israel, not the others.
But... Johnson is demanding that the spending be offset by equal cuts to the IRS budget.
Here's the monkey in the wrench, though: cutting $14.7 billion from the IRS will actually add at least $30 billion to the debt. Every dollar spent ferreting out wealthy tax cheats returns between $2 and $12 to the Treasury.
Also, it's entirely unclear that Johnson will have the votes to pass this nonsense in the House.
And besides, it's DOA in the senate where several republicans, including Cardin, McConnell, Graham, and Wicker don't favor splitting up president Biden's emergency funding request for Israel, Ukraine, the southern border, and the Indo-Pacific.
It's uncertain whether Johnson can even get his controversial proposal passed through the House, where Republicans hold a slim four-seat majority.
Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Ben Cardin (D-Md.) declared the House Republican proposal to cut IRS funding to pay for aid to Israel dead on arrival in the Senate.
'It's a non-starter. It's a poison pill,' he said. Like the fella' said: "Stupid is as stupid does."
https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/4284537-johnso... 