Senate Infrastructure Bill Drops IRS Funding Provision, Portman Says

President Joe Biden (C), joined by from left to right, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH), Sen. Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ), Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) and Sen. Mitt Romney (R-UT), speaks after the bipartisan group of Senators reached a deal on an infrastructure package at the White House on June 24, 2021 Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Senators dropped plans to help fund the approximately $1 trillion infrastructure package via a proposed boost to the Internal Revenue Service’s (IRS) ability to collect taxes, according to a key negotiator.

Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), who is one of the negotiators, told CNN on July 18 that the “IRS reform or IRS tax gap, which was originally in the proposal ... will no longer be in our proposal.” Portman said some Republican lawmakers pushed back against the proposal and said it would allow for more government overreach.