EXCLUSIVE — Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) is introducing a bill that will redirect $10 billion in IRS funding for agents toward FEMA relief.
The legislation specifies that none of the FEMA money can go toward the benefit of any illegal immigrant in the United States. Reps. Neal Dunn (R-FL), Aaron Bean (R-FL), and Vern Buchanan (R-FL) are co-sponsoring the act, which is titled the “Americans First Disaster Relief Act.”
“Americans have been put last at every level by the Biden-Harris Administration,” Ogles told the Washington Examiner. “This Administration’s lackluster response to the devastation left behind by hurricanes Helene and Milton is only the latest in a string of America Last policies.”
“Taxpayer dollars continue to be sent by the hundreds of billions to foreign countries and to fund increased audits on Middle America by a weaponized IRS, leaving little to nothing to care for the Americans who foot the bill,” he continued. “That’s why I have introduced the Americans First Disaster Relief Act, which would rescind funding for additional IRS agents in the so-called Inflation ‘Reduction’ Act of 2022 and reallocate $10 billion to FEMA disaster relief.”
Hurricanes Helene and Milton killed more than 250 people and caused an estimated $300 billion in damage. FEMA approved over a billion dollars in disaster relief funding as of Oct. 24 “to help pay for housing repairs, personal property replacement, and other recovery efforts.”
Former President Donald Trump alleged earlier in October that some FEMA funding was going toward illegal immigrants.
“They stole the FEMA money, just like they stole it from a bank, so they could give it to their illegal immigrants that they want to have vote for them this season,” Trump said in Michigan.
FEMA and the Department of Homeland Security have denied the allegation, saying any money going toward responding to illegal immigrants was a “completely separate, appropriated grant program that was authorized and funded by Congress.”
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Ogles introduced legislation in the past that sought to redirect funding from the IRS to other matters.
A September bill introduced by Ogles sought to direct $4.8 billion from the $80 billion earmarked for the IRS through the Inflation Reduction Act to a reduction in Veterans Affairs home loan fees.