FIRST ON FOX – Rep. Claudia Tenney, RN.Y., introduces a bill aimed at redirecting funding from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to fund employment more Border Patrol Agents on the US-Mexico border.
The bill, titled “Redirecting IRS Resources to Urgent Crisis Today,” or the “DIRECT Act,” aims to “repeal certain balances available to the IRS and redirect them to U.S. Customs and Border Protection.”
Specifically, the proposal calls for “unobligated balances” to be appropriated or otherwise made available to the IRS for “enforcement activities” under federal law instead of going to CBP “for the salaries and expenses of new agents and officers hired to secure the southern border of the United States State”, according to the text of the proposed law. Tenney is reintroducing the 2023 bill to the recently sworn-in 119th Congress.
Rep. Claudia Tenney, RN.Y., speaks during a hearing before the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Capitol Hill on June 12, 2024 in Washington, DC (Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
“The Biden-Harris administration has overseen the entry of over 10 million illegal immigrants into our country,” Tenney said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Yet instead of prioritizing border security and supporting CBP agents, they’ve focused on sending the IRS to harass middle-class families. The DIRECT Act prevents Biden’s tax army from launching audits of middle-class families and reinvests those funds into hiring additional Customs and Border Protection agents to secure the southern border.”
The congresswoman added: “As we transition to a new administration, it is vital to provide CBP agents with the additional resources needed to secure our borders and deport illegal immigrants, ensuring they can effectively support the agenda of President Trump and border czar Homan.”
Internal Revenue Service (IRS) headquarters in Washington, DC (Samuel Corum/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Congress passed Biden’s 2022 Inflation Reduction Act without any Republican support. The package allocated about 80 billion dollars to the IRS, giving the green light to employment 87,000 new tax administration agents until 2035, including executors.
The provision became a flashpoint for Republicans, including Rep. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., who accused Biden’s IRS of trying to “harass hardworking Americans.”
Former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) Thomas Homan speaks during day three of the 2024 Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on July 17, 2024. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump has tapped billionaire Elon Musk and fellow entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the newly-developed Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. The nongovernmental task force will be responsible for finding ways to reduce the federal workforce, and to reduce programs and federal regulations, as part of Trump’s “Save America” agenda for a second term.
On Wednesday, Trump announced that he would be creating another new agency, The Foreign tax serviceto collect tariffs and other funds owed to the US by foreign entities.
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Incoming border czar Tom Homan, who like Tenney is a native New Yorker, is tasked with fulfilling Trump’s promise of mass deportations of criminal illegal immigrants and drug traffickers.
Tenney, who co-chaired the House Caucus on Election Integrity amid the 2024 race that ended in Trump’s victory, also recently reintroduced a bill aimed at stripping federal funds from states that allow illegal immigrants to hold driver’s licenses.
