Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) had more than enough of South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham’s lies Sunday and shut him down during a joint appearance the two made on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
The two senators were invited on to discuss the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which is on the verge of passing in the U.S. Senate, even though Graham says he won’t support the legislation no matter how amendments are added or changes made, and tried to raise the specter that adding more IRS agents would lead to some sort of tax Gestapo, remarking:
“Hiring 86,000 more IRS agents, if that makes you feel better, you missed a lot. They’re coming after waitresses and Uber drivers and everybody else to collect more taxes. So if you think growing the IRS is good for you, you’re wrong.”
Host Dana Bash asked Blumenthal if he wanted to reply to his colleague, and he took her up on the offer:
“I think the IRS is going to target the highest income Americans. As the saying goes, that’s where the money is, that’s where they’re going to look to collect.”
He then added:
“The idea there’s going to be this army of IRS agents descending on the average Americans is preposterous. Tax fairness is what we need. For the biggest corporations in this country to pay no taxes, for them to do stock buybacks that benefit the shareholders? For example in the case of oil companies, they are making three to four times they did last year. What are they doing with those excess windfall profits? Lowering gasoline prices? No, they are doing stock buybacks and they ought to pay a tax on it.”
Poor Lindsey! He can’t admit that the real reason he won’t support cracking down on rich tax cheats is because those same crooks are major contributors to his campaign.
Good on Sen. Blumenthal for calling Graham out and shutting him down. The last thing we need more of is GOP bullshit and excuses.