Backlog in Irs
Floor Speech
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Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, imagine if someone owes you money and they said they would pay you back immediately, but they take weeks, months, and then years to do so.
That is what is going on right now with our Federal Government. The IRS has a backlog of tax refunds that is costing the American people a lot of money. Instead of fixing the backlog and rooting out waste and fraud, this administration is defunding the IRS and firing tax experts. They are opening the door for more waste, fraud, and abuse, not less.
This doesn't save money. Instead, we will lose out on $159 billion on tax revenue, and the impacts are just hypothetical. I am hearing from constituents all over my district who are tangibly impacted by this backlog and by what is going on at the IRS.
Take a small business in my district who filed for a tax refund. They are owed tens of thousands of dollars, money that is critical to running and growing their business, and now they can't make new investments because they are waiting for their refund. There is another family whose refund has taken years now, and they continue to see delays in getting their money back.
Defunding the IRS will only make those delays worse, and firing the tax watchdogs who prevent corruption will help big corporations dodge taxes left and right.
DOGE is enabling tax fraud, and making it harder to hold corporations more accountable. If my colleagues want to save taxpayer money, how about we fix the IRS, not dismantle it. This will save more money than DOGE ever would. Russell Vought and DOGE
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Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, many people think after Elon Musk left his post and is taking shots at the administration that DOGE is over, but that is simply not true.
The real architect of DOGE is Russell Vought. Vought is the co-author of Project 2025, the memo that President Trump said he has nothing to do with during the campaign trail.
Vought currently heads the Office of Management and Budget and said himself that he wants to traumatize the Federal workforce. He said: `` . . . we want them to not want to go to work . . . We want their funding to be shut down . . . We want to put them in trauma.''
This includes firing hard-to-replace civil servants, scientists, and meteorologists; and intimidating and harassing those who remain in hopes of driving them out of the Federal Government, despite their expertise that we need to keep our country safe and prosperous.
Let's be clear. This is not about making government more efficient. In fact, they want to replace many of these jobs with loyalists, even setting up loyalty tests. They are driving a brain drain in our Federal Government by choosing loyalty to the President over merit and competence, creating less efficiency and more waste, fraud, and abuse, and opportunities for corruption.
Essentially, we have to stop this. Make no mistake, I will fight this every step of the way. Celebrating Station 7
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Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, I rise to celebrate the new fire station that just opened off of Route 50, Station 7.
This new 23,000-square-foot facility is replacing the previous fire station that was built in 1971 and will provide crucial, lifesaving services to over 6,000 residents, covering over 40,000 square miles of response area.
Station 7 will be staffed around the clock by career and volunteer firefighters and respond to calls of all types, medical, fire, and even wildland support.
The work that these first responders do is critical, and they keep all of us healthy, safe, and protected; putting their lives on the line for the benefit of the community.
As a former volunteer firefighter myself, I thank the crews operating out of the new Aldie Fire Station for their service and dedication to our community. Effects of Big, Ugly Bill on Virginians
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Mr. SUBRAMANYAM. Mr. Speaker, the big, ugly bill the House passed is actually far worse than we thought for Virginians.
A new report shows that the red tape this bill adds to Medicaid eligibility could leave over 400,000 people in Virginia uninsured. That will lead to full ERs, long wait times, and higher insurance premiums for all Virginians.
The bill also continues the attack on Virginia's Federal workforce by undermining benefits for contractors, veterans, and longtime civil servants.
And while Virginians are being squeezed by grocery prices because of tariffs, the cuts to SNAP in this bill will mean tens of thousands of kids and over 35,000 veterans could lose their access to affordable food. I don't think leaving children and veterans without food assistance is beautiful at all.
The truth is that this big, ugly bill is that it will bankrupt future generations by exploding the debt. It will hurt our economy in Virginia and leave kids and seniors without food and care.
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