As Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) continues exposing wasteful federal spending, Democrats are working overtime to discredit it. Senator John Kennedy of Louisiana pointed out the blatant hypocrisy of these critics on Tuesday, reminding Americans that many of these same Democrats fought to expand the IRS with 87,000 new agents—primarily to target middle-class families and small businesses.
Kennedy, known for his sharp and direct remarks, called out Democrats for their double standard. They are outraged over DOGE shining a light on Washington’s bloated budgets, yet they had no problem backing the Biden administration’s plan to dramatically expand the IRS.
Despite claims that enforcement would focus on wealthy tax cheats, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen admitted before Congress that 90% of the audits would fall on individuals earning less than $400,000 per year. This means that hardworking Americans—not billionaires—were always the true targets of the IRS expansion.
The same people screaming at Pres. Trump for auditing federal spending agreed with Pres. Biden hiring 80,000+ new IRS agents with guns to audit the American people. pic.twitter.com/eR69Xv4aLP
— John Kennedy (@SenJohnKennedy) February 13, 2025
Kennedy noted that while the Biden administration was eager to ramp up enforcement on small businesses, it had no interest in cutting unnecessary government programs. DOGE has already uncovered billions in wasteful spending, including taxpayer-funded grants for illegal immigrants and federal contracts riddled with fraud.
🚨SEN KENNEDY: “It strikes me as breathtakingly ironic that that the people who are screaming so loudly about President Trump's decision to audit federal spending—
— are the very same people who wanted to hire 80,000 new IRS agents with guns to audit the American people." pic.twitter.com/AveAVvKP1l
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) February 11, 2025
The senator also pointed out that, even with tens of thousands of new IRS employees, customer service at the agency remains abysmal. Millions of tax returns remain backlogged, and just one in eight phone calls to the IRS actually gets answered by an employee. Rather than fixing its own inefficiencies, the Biden administration chose to make the agency’s reach even larger.
Kennedy’s comments highlight a clear divide in Washington: while Republicans are working to eliminate waste and inefficiency, Democrats are fighting to protect it. As DOGE continues to uncover federal spending abuses, the pushback from career politicians only raises more questions about what they don’t want Americans to see.
