On Saturday, the Democrats continued trying to get the votes through in the Senate on the Manchin-Schumer deal that the two politicians falsely named the Inflation Reduction Act.

But Republicans have been introducing all kinds of amendments — a vote-a-rama — to hold up the deal and expose how false some of the Democratic claims about the bill are. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) was offering amendments as well, to add things he wanted to the bill. They’ve been going for more than 24 hours now.

Vote-A-Rama recap….so far

Dems have voted for:
Doubling the size of the IRS
Increased taxes on oil and gas
Selling strategic reserve oil to China
Have the new IRS army target lower income Americans
Slow down all oil and gas leasing
Raise taxes on lower income Americans

— mallen2010 (@mallen_2010) August 7, 2022

But as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) explained, perhaps few things in the bill are as bad as the lie the Democrats are trying to sell about the hiring of 87,000 more IRS agents, acting as though it’s only going to go after “billionaires” to make them pay their fair share. We should be scaling back the IRS–not building it up. If we were spending money on anything, it should be border agents.

This is big government run amok.

My amendment would have struck the funding for 87,000 new IRS agents. But Democrats want to target the American people and their small businesses will more audits.

These agents aren't going to go after billionaires. #votearama pic.twitter.com/A6uDGb9j6U

— Senator Ted Cruz (@SenTedCruz) August 7, 2022

Cruz explained this would equal more than a million new audits, with most of them landing on those making $75,000 or less. He said he wanted to abolish the IRS, “but, at a minimum, we shouldn’t make the IRS larger than the Pentagon, the State Department, the FBI, and the Border Patrol — all combined.” He proposed an amendment to curtail that part of the bill.

This chart, posted by Fox’s Jacqui Heinrich, shows how the audits would likely be distributed using the $80 billion to the Internal Revenue Service — nearly six times the agency’s current annual budget. It’s concentrating far more on the lower and middle class, if this is true.

Rep Kevin Brady: Manchin/Schumer reconciliation bill “adds $80 billion to the Internal Revenue Service – nearly six times the agency’s current annual budget – to supercharge the IRS and unleash 87,000 new IRS enforcement agents on taxpayers, including the middle class.” pic.twitter.com/kEZq86S6zR

— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) August 5, 2022

So Sen. Mike Crapo (R-ID) put them to the test. He offered an amendment saying that they weren’t going to use this bill to go after people making below $400,000 — Joe Biden’s tax promise. What did they do? The Democrats voted it down, as well as Cruz’s amendment, showing exactly what liars they are.

WTF did Democrat Senators vote AGAINST this Amendment to protect taxpayers making less than $400,000?????https://t.co/NOj8kRUdhK pic.twitter.com/OVnvfSWkuE

— MC Bennett (@SyrenSongs) August 7, 2022

Crapo amendment to the Manchin bill to limit the bill's 87,000 new IRS agents to auditing comapnes and individuals with income of $400,000 or more FAILED 50-50.https://t.co/oPKr11BAYw pic.twitter.com/mH4wuMsmJ4

— Phil Kerpen (@kerpen) August 7, 2022

We know how the Obama team used the IRS and see how the FBI has been politicized. Can we have any doubt that the IRS will be further weaponized as well?

In the middle of a recession, they’re going to increase taxes, including on oil.

A) Graham on Fox on reconciliation bill: The CBO says next year inflation will go up or down 0.1%. So that's not much of a reduction. This bill has tax increases on imported oil. The taxes in the bill will be passed on to consumers at the $75,000 or below level.

— Chad Pergram (@ChadPergram) August 5, 2022

They’re stomping on domestic production and taxing imports, which will then be passed on to the rest of us. So, if the gas prices were going down, watch them go back up, if this passes.

Cruz also introduced an amendment to prevent Biden from selling oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve to the CCP. The Democrats voted against that, as well.

This Manchin-Schumer deal is likely to pass, now that they have all the Democrats in the Senate likely “yes” votes, although there’s a slight possibility that vulnerable Democrats in the House might nix it still. But along the way, the Republicans are going to point out every lie–and just how much this all will hurt the American people in the process.