IRS enforcement off the table as funding in bipartisan infrastructure deal, GOP senator says

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) on Sunday told CNN's Dana Bash that the Senate's bipartisan infrastructure bill will not include improved Internal Revenue Service enforcement of existing tax laws as a way to pay for the $1.2 trillion plan.

It fell out after pushback from Republican senators and because Democrats are including a similar plan in their separate $3.5 trillion budget proposal. "That created quite a problem," Portman said. "Because the general agreement is that this is the bipartisan negotiated infrastructure package, and that we will stick that."

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Bash then asked Portman what pay-fors the lawmakers may turn to instead of the IRS enforcement. The senator said that's still being worked out, but there were a "number of" options, including "one called the Medicare rebate rule that provides significant revenue."

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Tim O'Donnell

Tim is a staff writer at The Week and has contributed to Bedford and Bowery and The New York Transatlantic. He is a graduate of Occidental College and NYU's journalism school. Tim enjoys writing about baseball, Europe, and extinct megafauna. He lives in New York City.