The Biden administration's move to give the Internal Revenue Service even more power by allotting it an extra $80 billion through the Inflation Reduction Act may be the one thing that turns a "red wave" election this November into a "red tsunami," Sen. Ron Johnson tells Newsmax.
"I think even Democrats might, um, react to that kind of political reprimand from the public," the Wisconsin Republican commented on Newsmax's "Rob Schmitt Tonight" on Tuesday. "The good news is if we send a very strong signal to Democrats in November this is something that I believe we can reverse. If Republicans are in control, we can put a piece of legislation on the floor and pretty well dare Democrats to vote against rescinding 87,000 new IRS agents. It would be a pretty tough vote for them."
Further, Johnson said, the problem facing the government and Americans is that spending has gotten out of control, not that there isn't enough money coming in through taxes.
"Prior to the COVID recession, the federal government has spent about $4.5 trillion [a year]," Johnson said. "During COVID, we spent well over $6 trillion per year for two years, and this fiscal year we'll spend just under $6 trillion … we're $30.8 trillion in debt."
He warned that with spending so high, the United States is risking the end of being the world's reserve currency and that creditors will start considering the country as a credit risk and will start loaning money at much higher rates.
"If we just go back to the 30-year average before the end of the last century, 5.4% of that, at $1.2 trillion a year was just in interest expense," said Johnson. "Too much of the public is just whistling by the graveyard in terms of the financial straits we truly are in."
The senator added that the scandal involving former IRS executive Lois Lerner, who was accused of targeting conservative groups, should have "shocked every American" who saw how the agency was being weaponized.
Under former President Barack Obama, the IRS was "weaponized" against his enemies and Biden is doing the same thing now by pushing through a bill that allocates so much extra money to the agency, Johnson said.
"From my standpoint, we need to stop the growth in government across the board and start [sending] power back to the states, where our founders envisioned government to take place and where it's close to people," the senator said. "It's more accountable, it's more efficient, and it's more effective. The federal government's out of control, and it probably causes or exacerbates more problems than it ever fixes."
However, he added, "far too many Americans are willing to give up their freedom for some false sense of security. It's not a very secure situation when you're $30.8 trillion in debt and a debt crisis hanging over your head."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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