Jewish Republican blasts Johnson 'gimmick' of tying Israel aid to IRS cuts: 'Playing God with money'

Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio), one of the two Jewish Republican members of the House of Representatives, took offense to House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-Louisiana) proposal to cut Internal Revenue Service (IRS) funding in exchange for foreign aid to Israel.

In an interview with Jewish Insider, Miller said that while he reluctantly voted for the speaker's initial gambit of tying the GOP's partisan goals to a $14 billion aid package to America's top ally in the Middle East, it was still in bad taste.

"Putting any type of cuts to a supplemental package to one of our greatest allies in the world is disgusting," Miller told Jewish Insider. "I think it’s stupid. I’m supportive of Israel — don't get me wrong, I voted for it — but I think it’s a gimmick.”

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Miller argued that in the wake of Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel, in which roughly 1,400 people were killed — including US citizens — Johnson was "play[ing] gimmicks with people's lives." He added that historically, funding cuts to government agencies aren't typically included in foreign aid legislation.

"[Johnson is] playing God with money that is going to help Israeli-Americans and Israelis," Miller said. "We have Americans who were killed in that attack, we have Americans who are held hostage, and this man doesn’t want to help them — that’s the way I look at it as somebody who is one of two Republican Jews in Congress."

While President Joe Biden recently signed a short-term government funding bill into law to avoid a shutdown, that legislation doesn't include any of the foreign aid currently being debated in Congress. While the Democratic-controlled US Senate wants all foreign aid to be grouped into a single legislative package — which would include funding for Israel, Ukraine, and Taiwan — some Republicans in both the House and Senate want each aid package to be considered on an individual basis. Miller said Speaker Johnson's Israel aid proposal was a political error that would increase the likelihood of a single foreign aid package.

"Now that you see it’s a gimmick, the Senate won’t pick it up,” Miller said. "The speaker knew that. He’s trying to play chicken with a body that he’s going to lose with, and we’re going to end up swallowing a huge supplemental now that’s going to include Ukraine, Israel, Taiwan and our border. And probably, because he negotiated this so poorly, possibly a humanitarian package that’s going to go to the Palestinian people."

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While Johnson justified his IRS cuts saying that aid to Israel needed to be "offset" by reducing funding elsewhere, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the IRS cuts would actually increase the federal deficit. The CBO calculated that the IRS' inability to collect revenue due to having its budget cut would be an even bigger drain on federal coffers.