White House Hits Back Against New Republican Speaker ‘Politicizing Our National Security’
Mike Johnson wants to cut enforcement against wealthy tax cheats
President Biden and his administration are already drawing clear lines for newly elected House Speaker Mike Johnson over the Louisiana Republican’s confrontational approach to a new funding package for Israel, Ukraine and other security priorities.
White House officials already are rejecting Johnson's plans for the legislation, including a desire to cut the IRS budget in order to fund assistance to Israel and Ukraine fight their respective conflicts, as well as other priorities like US border security.
The once-obscure Johnson ascended to the speakership this month after a chaotic and paralyzing three weeks in which his fellow House Republicans could not settle on any other candidate for the job after the unprecedented ouster of Rep Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif) as speaker.
Johnson, a lawmaker known for his far-right positions on abortion, LGBTQ rights and more, is already trying to tee up a fight with Biden over the president’s desired legislation to provide funding for Israel, Ukraine and border security.
The newly minted Republican speaker is seeking to pay for aid to Israel by slashing $14.3 billion from IRS funds in the Democratic president's signature Inflation Reduction Act, the major climate, health care and tax law Biden signed last year.
While Johnson may lead the House, he does so with a tiny Republican majority and with the other levers of the federal government — the Senate and presidency — controlled by Democrats.
And White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre warned him that his approach is a “non-starter.”
“Politicizing our national security interests is a nonstarter. Demanding offsets for meeting core national security needs of the United States—like supporting Israel and defending Ukraine from atrocities and Russian imperialism—would be a break with the normal, bipartisan process and could have devastating implications for our safety and alliances in the years ahead,” Jean-Pierre said in a statement released Monday. “There is strong bipartisan agreement that humanitarian aid is critical to stopping the suffering of innocent people in Gaza, which is in our direct national security interest.
“There is strong bipartisan agreement that it is in our direct national security interest to help Ukraine defend its sovereignty against appalling crimes being committed by Russian forces against thousands of innocent civilians—including attacking them with Iranian weapons,” her statement added. “Those atrocities include the hideous use of rape as a weapon and the kidnapping and forced deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children.”
The IRS cuts Johnson wants would undermine enforcement against wealthy Americans who try to evade lawful taxes and would give cover to the richest tax cheats, Jean-Pierre said.
“Threatening to undermine American national security unless House Republicans can help the wealthy and big corporations cheat on their taxes—which would increase the deficit—is the definition of backwards,” she said in her statement.
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