House Democrats are blasting Republicans this week with charges of hypocrisy for lionizing a pair of IRS whistleblowers while fighting to defund the agency at large over allegations of corruption and bias against conservatives.
The Democrats say Republicans have undermined the legitimacy of their own star witnesses through months of attacks on the agency they represent, diminishing the public’s trust in the IRS and the agents who make it run.
“It’s a very cherry-picked situation,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.). “It is hypocritical to call on these folk while also stripping the resources they need to do their job.”
Republicans have rejected those criticisms out of hand, arguing that their distrust in the IRS — as well as efforts to slash the agency’s funding — is entirely compatible with their faith in individual agents to expose the types of mismanagement driving their suspicions.
“Don’t you have two guys that are doing the right thing, and they’re telling us that there are a lot of people within their agency not doing the right thing?” said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.). “That’s perfectly consistent. If you’ve got honest agents you can rely on, they’re going to tell us about the dishonest folks.”
The animated back-and-forth is just the latest clash between the parties over the size, scope and culture of the nation’s federal tax-collection agency. The IRS has become a lightning rod of partisan controversy over the last decade amid Republican charges that it...
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