Several Republican lawmakers have introduced bills to disarm enforcement officers at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Department of Labor (DOL) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS).
Louisiana Republican Rep. Clay Higgins Introduces Ban on Funding Arms Regulators activity Join June 30, 2023 Seven co-sponsor. If enacted, the bill would prohibit the use of taxpayer funds to hire and retain armed control enforcement officers for the EPA, DOL, and IRS.
“Deep State bureaucrats continue to push their executive powers to every corner of America, trampling on the rights of citizens and devouring wealth,” Higgins said in a June 30 report. release. “This bill is an important step in resisting repressive tactics being used to enforce regulatory policies.”
Iowa Republican Senator Joni Ernst introduced her thoughts. Specification On June 30, a bill entitled “Why the IRS Needs a Gun Act” was passed, which explicitly prohibits the IRS from purchasing or equipping its employees with firearms.
There are about 2,100 armed agents in the IRS’s enforcement branch as of April 2023, according to one source. report From “Open the Books”. Government agencies have purchased $10 million in weapons and related equipment from the onset of COVID-19 to April 2023, including $5 million in 2021 alone, according to Open the Books. It also includes purchases that reach
An EPA spokesperson quoted by E&E News said the agency currently has 150 enforcement officers who are authorized to carry firearms on the job. According to a 2018 report, as of November 2017, the EPA Inspector General’s Office had an additional 48 personnel authorized to accompany them. report From Government Accountability Office. (Related: IRS whistleblower attorney slams Washington Post for not correcting Hunter Biden article)
Biden: “They [MAGA Republicans] I want to make sure there aren’t enough IRS agents…they’re going to look into the accounts of the ultra-rich…they want to get rid of them…
We just have completely different values. ” pic.twitter.com/EvKr6ef7dY
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) March 10, 2023
“Especially in rural areas, regulatory enforcement agencies dealing with my voters had a pretty extreme edge,” Higgins said. according to To E&E news. “I was surprised to learn that these regulators were flooding voter premises with armed police to enforce their regulations.”
The exact number of DOL personnel authorized to carry firearms is unknown.
According to E&E News, Higgins suggested the bill’s wording would allow for easy amendments, meaning it could be incorporated into a larger legislative package in the future. Additionally, according to E&E News, the bill’s language could allow future iterations of the bill to expand its reach beyond the three government agencies currently covered.
Republicans in Congress were able to cut $21.4 billion in new funding for IRS enforcement from the original proposal of $80 billion as part of debt ceiling negotiations in early June, according to E&E News.
An IRS spokeswoman told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the IRS does not generally comment on pending legislation.
EPA and DOL did not immediately respond to DCNF’s request for comment.
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