By Rep. Adrian Smith
This week, despite prior assurances made repeatedly by the president himself and his spokespeople he would not do so, President Biden announced he had signed a sweeping pardon for his son Hunter Biden. While framed by the president as addressing Hunter’s gun and tax charges, the pardon stunningly covers all crimes Hunter “committed or may have committed” from 2014 to 2023, a period covering Hunter’s questionable business dealings in Ukraine, China, and other foreign nations.
In 2014, Hunter began receiving $1 million annually from Burisma, a company controlled by a Ukrainian oligarch which dealt in energy holdings, an industry with which Hunter had no relevant experience. Also, in February 2014, then-Vice-President Joe Biden dined with Russian and Kazakhstani oligarchs who were shortly thereafter responsible for millions of dollars in suspect money transfers including $142,300 which appears to have covered the cost of a car for Hunter.
Rather than supporting the integrity of the legal system, by issuing this pardon, President Biden did the opposite and instead decided to put family above fairness to American taxpayers and law-abiding citizens. This is an unacceptable abuse of presidential powers.
It has been said, “eternal vigilance is the price of liberty,” and after the historic inflation, regulatory overreach, and failures of leadership we’ve seen throughout the Biden-Harris administration, it is clear reining in the excesses of the federal government has never been more urgent. As Republicans look forward to advancing sound policy for the American people in the coming year, we are preparing to deliver government accountability to the taxpayers, families, and small businesses which make up the backbone of our economy.
This week, the office of Sen. Joni Ernst released a report showing only 6 percent of the more than two million federal employees work completely in-person rather than telework or remote work. Meanwhile, leasing, maintenance, and operations for federal office buildings costs taxpayers approximately $15.7 billion annually. This is the reason I supported the SHOW UP Act in 2023 to require federal agency employees to show up for work and get back to the business of serving the American people. Unfortunately, the bill has been ignored by Democrats in the Senate and White House.
I am eager to ensure the government works more efficiently for the American people and welcome the opportunity to work toward this goal with Elon Musk, Vivek Ramaswamy, and President Trump’s newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) which aims to address wasteful federal spending and bureaucratic bloat in the coming year.
The IRS will be a good place for DOGE’s work to start. Overhauling the IRS requires new leadership. I applaud President Trump’s announcement of his plan to remove the current Commissioner Danny Werfel and nominate my former colleague, Billy Long to fill the role. Despite his commitments to “world-class customer service” and “to roll up [his] sleeves to help working families” during his confirmation process, Commissioner Werfel’s tenure at the IRS has instead focused on advancing the Biden-Harris agenda to intrude further into the financial privacy of American families and small businesses.
We need an IRS commissioner who will restore accountability to the agency and its employees, ensure unelected bureaucrats do not harass Americans on the basis of ideology as it did under the Obama administration, simplify tax compliance, protect taxpayer data and privacy, update antiquated technology systems, return to wholly appropriated funding, end the unlawful Direct File Program, and have a true focus on serving taxpayers well. I hope Rep. Long will demonstrate his capacity to do this as the Senate considers his nomination.
To combat inflation caused by overspending, clean up the morass of overregulation, and hold those entrusted with power accountable, we need to refocus and repair how the federal government serves Americans. In many ways this looks like getting Washington out of the way and allowing the American people do what they do best. President Ronald Reagan famously said, “the nine most terrifying words in the English language are: I’m from the government, and I’m here to help.” It’s about time we restore accountability and focus on efficiency governmentwide.