Vulnerable House Democrats won’t say if they plan to vote for Manchin Inflation Reduction Act

Vulnerable House Democrats seeking re-election this fall are not saying how they will vote on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, days before the house takes up the bill for final passage. 

On Sunday, the Senate voted 50-50 on the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, with Vice President Kamala Harris casting the tie-breaking vote to pass the bill.

Fox News Digital reached out to 20 of the most vulnerable House Democrats to see if they planned to vote for the bill, and to ask for reaction to a portion of the bill that provides funding of more IRS agents. None of them responded.

Various reports suggest that the funding for the IRS could allow the agency to hire tens of thousand of agents to beef up tax collection methods like audits on American citizens and businesses.

MEMBER OF GOP LEADERSHIP SAYS IRS COULD ‘BULLY THE MIDDLE CLASS,’ TARGET CONSERVATIVES, IF MANCHIN BILL PASSES

Earlier in the week, Rep. Tom Emmer, R-Minn, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), expressed fears that the new IRS agents could be used to target conservative groups, an apparent reference to the 2013 IRS targeting scandal in which conservative groups were allegedly singled for additional scrutiny by the tax collection agency. 

Following the introduction of the bill, a report by the Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT) suggested that taxes would be raised on Americans in almost every income category. It also stressed the bill raising taxes on individuals making under $400,000 a year, despite President Joe Biden’s 2021 promise that no American in that income range would pay “a single penny” more in taxes.

Republicans claim the bill will increase taxes on working-class Americans in the midst of an economic downturn. Fox also raised the middle-class tax question to the vulnerable House Democrats, but received no response.

DEMOCRATS’ INFLATION REDUCTION ACT IS ‘ECONOMIC MALPRACTICE’: ECONOMIST

Progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., labeled the new legislation as the “so-called Inflation Reduction Act,” and agreed with the JCT in that it would have “minimal impact” on reducing inflation, despite Democratic politicians disputing the report.

Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., denied claims that it would raise taxes, telling Fox News’ Harris Faulkner that the JCT opinion was inaccurate because “it was only written by my friends on the Republicans side, not the entire joint committee.”

When asked for comment by Fox News Digital on how they would vote, and on the possible expansion of the IRS, none of the following Democrats provided a response: Rep. Sharice Davids, D-Kan., Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, Rep. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., Rep. Dan Kildee, D-Mich., Rep. Angie Craig, D-Minn., Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., Rep. Chris Pappas, D-N.H., Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., Rep. Susie Lee, D-Nev., Rep. Steve Horsford, D-Nev., Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, Rep. Matt Cartwright, D-Pa., Rep. Elaine Luria, D-Va., Rep. Abigail Spanberger, D-Va., Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Wash., Rep. Cindy Axne, D-Iowa, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, Rep. Susan Wild, D-Pa., Rep. Tom Malinowski, D-N.J., Rep. Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz.

Two Texas Democrats Rep. Henry Cuellar and Rep. Vicente Gonzalez may be hesitant to vote in favor of the bill, after expressing concern last year over the energy fee in the “Build Back Better” legislation that would fine fossil fuel companies for their methane emissions. The fee is included in the new version of the bill, the Inflation Reduction Act.

Democrats currently have a five seat majority in the House of Representatives, meaning if all Republicans vote against the bill, it would only take five Democrats opposing it to fail.

The House is slated to take up the Inflation Reduction Act later this week, where Democrats seek to pass it and send it to Biden’s desk.

Brandon Gillespie contributed to this report.