Ted Cruz blasts Biden plan to make IRS larger than the FBI, border patrol with 87,000 new hires

In a series of tweets Sunday, Sen. Ted Cruz blasted President Joe Biden’s plan to make the IRS larger than the FBI and State Department, with the hiring of 87,000 new tax-enforcement agents. 

The Texas Republican senator took aim at the IRS agent hiring provision in the massive spending and tax bill that the Democrat-led Senate passed on Sunday.  Cruz tried to strike the provision but was voted down.

“My amendment would have struck the funding for 87,000 new IRS agents,” he tweeted. “But Democrats want to target the American people and their small businesses will more audits. These agents aren't going to go after billionaires.”

“Democrats want to make the IRS larger than the Pentagon, the State Department, the FBI, and the Border Patrol combined,” he argued. “ That's a terrible idea. We should abolish the IRS!”

Cruz warned in a separate statement that the new IRS agents will be targeting the middle class, not the wealthy. 

“According to expert analysis, it will supercharge the IRS with 87,000 new IRS agents to target Americans with 1.2 million new audits, more than half of which would be for people making less than $75,000 a year,” he said.