House panel clears IRS budget cuts

A House Appropriations panel on Wednesday cleared a measure that would slash the IRS’s budget.

{mosads}The Financial Services and General Government subcommittee passed the measure by voice vote, though Democrats did express opposition to the bill.

The legislation, which gives the IRS $341 million less than its current funding level, now heads to the full Appropriations panel.

Rep. Ander Crenshaw (R-Fla.), the subcommittee’s chairman, said the panel had to make tough choices to get under its funding cap. “In order to live within our allocation, we had to reduce funding in some areas,” he said.

But Crenshaw also made it clear that Republicans remain deeply distrustful of the IRS, feelings that have only grown since the agency said it couldn’t reproduce many of former official Lois Lerner’s emails.

“The committee remains troubled by their activities,” Crenshaw said.

Rep. Jose Serrano (N.Y.), the top Democrat on the subcommittee, said he was troubled that the IRS would be asked to operate with less funding than it did under sequestration.

“I do not know of another agency that is asked to take a cut to a level below the sequester,” Serrano said.

The $341 million cut to the IRS is also smaller than House Republicans sought last year, shortly after the controversy erupted over the agency’s improper scrutiny of Tea Party groups. But John Koskinen, the IRS commissioner, has said he will press to get increased funding for the agency, a tall task given the GOP’s views.

House Republicans also tucked in riders aimed squarely at the IRS, including a provision to block new rules for the tax-exempt 501(c)(4) groups at the center of the controversy. The IRS has said it will take another crack at those rules, first released last year, before circulating them again.

The Appropriations Committee also tries to limit the IRS’s ability to implement President Obama’s healthcare law.

The Securities and Exchange Committee would also face a funding cut under the GOP measure – roughly $300 million less than Obama requested.

The bill also includes other riders frequently floated by Republicans, including travel restrictions to Cuba and banning Washington, D.C., from using funds for abortion, needle exchanges or medical marijuana programs.