Overview
- The Senate Finance Committee on Thursday voted 26-1 to advance a broad IRS modernization and tax-administration bill and defeated a Democratic amendment 14-13 that would have barred IRS or Treasury from making audit-immunity deals for the president, first family, or related entities.
- News reports describe the contested settlement as creating about a $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization” fund and preventing new or existing audits of President Trump, his family, and affiliated businesses.
- Republican committee members, including Chair Mike Crapo, argued the modernization bill was not the proper vehicle to resolve the settlement and said attaching the amendment would jeopardize the bipartisan package.
- Several GOP senators led by John Cornyn and Bill Cassidy have continued to demand written assurances narrowing or killing the reported deal and have used the attorney general nominee Todd Blanche’s confirmation as leverage in those negotiations.
- The amendment’s defeat leaves the settlement and oversight questions unresolved, fuels sharp Democratic criticism that the arrangement would put the president above ordinary tax enforcement, and sets up continued talks and potential floor fights over confirmations and transparency.