Tougher IRS enforcement central to Dem economic package

WASHINGTON (AP) — After more than a decade of mostly losing out, the Internal Revenue Service may finally get the cash infusion it’s long wanted in the economic package that Democrats are working furiously to push through Congress before their August break.

Under a deal worked out by Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and West Virginia Sen. Joe Manchin, the bill would spend an extra $79.6 billion on the beleaguered agency over the next 10 years. The plan would generate an additional $203.7 billion in revenue for the federal government over that time frame, for a net gain of more than $124 billion, the Congressional Budget Office projects.

As the Senate prepares to begin voting on the bill in the coming days, the IRS proposal has become a magnet for GOP attacks, testing Democratic unity as they try to deliver on key climate and health care priorities ahead of the fall midterm elections.