This week, Senate Democrats released their final nine annual government funding bills, including a proposal to boost funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to $13.6 billion, a $1.6 billion increase over current funding levels.
Senate Appropriations Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said the increase would allow the IRS to address the tax gap, upgrade its aging technology and improve customer service.
Congressional appropriators are working to reach a bipartisan spending agreement before current government funding expires on Dec. 3. Republican reaction to the spending bills released this week suggests negotiations remain far apart. The nine spending bills provide a 13 percent increase in non-defense domestic spending and a 5 percent increase for defense programs.
"If Democrats want full-year appropriations bills, they must abandon their go-it-alone strategy and come to the table to negotiate," said Senate Appropriations Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-AL). "We need a topline agreement that does not shortchange our nation's defense and a willingness to set aside partisan politics…The clock is ticking."
This article was provided to OSAP by ASAE's Power of A and Inroads.