Rep. Tenney Introduces Bill to Redirect IRS Funding to Border Patrol

Rep. Tenney Introduces Bill to Redirect IRS Funding to Border Patrol

Republican Representative Claudia Tenney of New York has introduced a bill that aims to redirect funding from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for the hiring of more Border Patrol agents at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The bill, titled the "Diverting IRS Resources to the Exigent Crisis Today Act" or the "DIRECT Act," seeks to reallocate unobligated balances appropriated to the IRS for enforcement activities to the CBP for the salaries and expenses of new agents and officers hired to secure the southern border.

Rep. Tenney argues that the Biden administration has prioritized sending the IRS to harass middle-class families instead of focusing on border security and supporting CBP agents. She believes that the DIRECT Act would stop the IRS from launching audits of middle-class families and reinvest those funds into hiring additional CBP agents to secure the Southern Border.

This bill comes in the wake of the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act, which allocated $80 billion to the IRS and green-lighted the hiring of 87,000 new IRS agents by 2035. This has been a contentious issue for Republicans, who accuse the Biden IRS of trying to harass hard-working Americans.

Meanwhile, President-elect Donald Trump has chosen billionaire Elon Musk and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy to lead the newly developed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). This task force will be responsible for finding ways to reduce the federal workforce and eliminate programs and regulations as part of Trump's "Save America" agenda for a second term.

Additionally, Trump has announced the establishment of the External Revenue Service to collect tariffs and other funding owed to the U.S. by foreign entities. Incoming border czar Tom Homan, who is tasked with delivering on Trump's promise of mass deportations of criminal illegal immigrants and drug traffickers, will also work with the CBP to secure the border.

Rep. Tenney, who co-chaired the House Election Integrity Caucus during the 2024 election, has also re-introduced a bill that aims to remove federal funding from states that allow illegal immigrants to hold driver's licenses.