Rep. Byron Donalds, R-Fla., clashed with NBC’s Chuck Todd on Sunday during “Meet the Press” while debating debt limit negotiations and “extra IRS agents.”
Todd asked Donalds about former President Donald Trump’s remarks on debt negotiations in 2019 and Donalds argued that when Trump was negotiating the debt ceiling with Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., “our economy was thriving” and that “our debt levels were not where they are right now.”
“Now you have $32 trillion on the credit card and all House Republicans are saying is let’s go back to pre-pandemic spending, that’s commonsense stuff,” Donalds said.
“They want fewer IRS agents and fewer attempts to properly get tax receipts into the federal government’s coffers. I have never understood the resistance of extra IRS agents unless you knowingly cheat on your taxes,” Todd said.
Todd pushed back and added that, “if you are paying what you are supposed pay then you should have nothing to fear.”
“You would make the assumption that IRS audits are up, that they’re putting more liens on the American people. That’s not true. That data is not there. All Joe Biden is trying to find out of every possible nickel out of every couch of every American to pay for his spending,” Donalds said.
Rep. Byron Donalds speaks during a House Oversight and Accountability Committee business meeting in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 31, 2023. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
HOUSE DEMOCRATS BEGIN ‘HAIL MARY’ ATTEMPT TO GO AROUND SPEAKER MCCARTHY AND RAISE THE DEBT LIMIT
Speaker Kevin McCarthy talks to reporters after the Republican majority in the House narrowly passed a sweeping debt ceiling package, at the Capitol, April 26, 2023. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
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Biden accused “MAGA Republicans” of unraveling debt talks during his press conference from Hiroshima at the close of the summit, citing it as an effort to derail his 2024 re-election effort.
“On the merits, based on what I’ve offered, I would be blameless,” Biden said. “On the politics of it, no one would be blameless. And by the way, that’s one of the, one of the things some [people] are contemplating. Well, I gotta be careful here. I think there are some MAGA Republicans in the House who know the damage that it would do to the economy and because I am president, and presidents are responsible for everything, Biden would take the blame. And that’s the one way to make sure Biden’s not re-elected.”