D.C. Digest: Lucas locks horns with ag secretary

Members of both parties complained to Vilsack about everything from a lack of support for walking horses to food prices. He got into it with Lucas over the Emergency Relief Program, which provides financial assistance for losses to such things as floods, wildfires, droughts, hurricanes and winter storms.

Lucas said farmers and ranchers in his district are telling him they aren’t getting the support they need, and he asked Vilsack what can be done to remedy the situation.

“One change would be for Congress to give us the resources we ask for,” Vilsack replied. “When you give us 30% of what we ask for, we tell you the damages are $10-$12 billion, and you basically give us $3 billion, you put us in a tough spot.”

“But Mr. Secretary, when you change the program so that you screw up the delivery, and screw up the 30%, it makes it difficult to come back for the other 70,” Lucas fired back.

“It didn’t screw up at all,” said Vilsack. “In fact, 82% of producers received more help than they would have based on what you (suggested).”

“My producers back home … tell me the resources are not going to production where the losses were,” insisted Lucas, who suggested a “preferred category in the rules” received preferential treatment.

“That’s not true,” said Vilsack.

And so it went.

IRS: First District Congressman Kevin Hern joined other Ways and Means Republicans complaining to Internal Revenue Service Commissioner Danny Werfel about various things, including a decision not to enforce lower reporting limits for certain types of income and a pilot program that allows some people to file their tax returns online at no cost to them.

Hern first accused the IRS of “blatantly not enforcing the law” because of pressure from Democrats who’ve had second thoughts about a 2021 law that required income paid through third-party apps such as Venmo of $600 to be reported to the IRS via a 1099-K form.

After much outcry, the limit was set at $20,000. It will be $5,000 for tax year 2024 and $600 for 2025 — one year after the next presidential election.

Hern was also displeased about the tax-filing program, which he said is not free because taxpayers pay for it. The program has encountered strong opposition from professional tax preparers and software companies.

For years, the IRS had an agreement with a group of those companies not to offer direct free online filing, which is the case in some countries, if those companies would not charge for some of the simpler filings.

In recent years, though, it was found that some of the companies were using the offer of free filing to lure customers into paying for services and software they may not have needed.

Hern argued that people who didn’t qualify for the IRS’ pilot program are subsidizing those who do.

“It ought to be described as not free,” Hern said. “It’s funded by other taxpayers — and (the users) as well, if they qualified. I don’t know the criteria, but my guess is if they qualified for that program is that they’re not paying taxes and it’s a refundable credit that they’re getting.”

The IRS website indicates households with incomes of $125,000 or more may qualify for the service, but that it can also be used to claim child care and a few other refundable tax credits “even … if you don’t owe taxes.”

The service is available in only a handful of states. Oklahoma is not one of them.

On the job: After three GOP chairs announced they would not seek re-election, Lucas — chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee and former Agriculture chairman — told the Associated Press he has no plans to retire soon.

Lucas said the cost of living in Washington, combined with the fact members of Congress have not had a raise in 15 years, and a fear the GOP losing it’s narrow House majority may be factors in the rash of House retirements.

“It’s also a frustration with the difficulty of legislating at this time because of issues within factions and the balanced nature of the House membership,” he said.

Lucas, a member of Congress since 1994, said the late Rep. Don Young of Alaska, the House’s longest serving Republican member before his death in 2022, once pulled him aside for a pep talk.

“He looks me in the eye and says ‘Lucas, people like you and I were here when this place still worked. We can’t leave because if you leave before we get back to that point, some of these underclassmen don’t have a clue about how things are supposed to happen, how to do anything” Lucas said.

Oddballs: OK, Fourth District Congressman Tom Cole did not refer to his colleagues as odd, but he did say the current congress sets the standard for “most unusual.”

“You have to remember this started with something that we had not done in 100 years — multiple speaker ballot votes,” Cole told the Ripon Society. “And if you look at the length of time and number of votes, you have to go back to 1856 — pre-Civil War — to find anything remotely comparable. And then less than a year into it, we do something that we have never done in the history of the United States House of Representatives. We vacate the chair.

“We were without a Speaker for three weeks. You look at our membership, and we have a pretty new majority — 50 percent of our members had never served in the majority until this Congress,” Cole continued. “So I’m not surprised we’re seeing unusual things, for that reason alone. We’re also operating — looking at the Senate and the House — with the most narrow majority that anybody’s had since 1884.”

All of that has added up to some unmet, and probably unrealistic, expectations.

“Part of our problem is our ambition is greater than our numbers in this Congress,” Cole said. “When you have a majority this small and the other party controls the Senate and the presidency, your accomplishments are mostly going to be negative — that is, you’re going to deny the other side and serve as, let’s say, a blocking majority.”

Gassing up: Oklahoma’s House delegation eagerly voted for legislation to block the Biden administration’s moratorium on new liquified petroleum gas export facilities.

The moratorium is not expected to make much of a difference in the near- or intermediate-term, but there is concern that it could cause Europe and Asia to use more coal or look elsewhere, including Russia, for natural gas.

Cole said the moratorium is “nothing more than a political move to placate environmentalists at the expense of the American people and our economic and national security.”

Hern and Texas Republican August Pfluger, in a joint statement, called the moratorium a “monumental mistake that benefits our adversaries and dirty global polluters.”

Others familiar with natural gas markets, though, note the nation’s LNG export capacity not subject to the order is in the process of than tripling since 2018 and is more than adequate for current demand. Biden’s order includes exceptions for “national security emergencies.”

Dots and dashes: U.S. Sen. Markwayne Mullin told Fox News that former President Donald Trump “puts the Fear of God in world leaders.” … Second District Congressman Josh Brecheen called President Joe Biden’s challenge to Congress to pass the Senate’s border bill “laughable. … “Watching Speaker (Mike) Johnson, who I have great respect for, grow up has been really fascinating. I just hope he has the time to finish growing up,” Lucas told Punchbowl News. … U.S. Sen. James Lankford threw the words House Republicans used to torpedo his border security deal back at them following Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ impeachment, telling CBS “If I could use the House term, it’ll be dead on arrival when it comes over.” … Fifth District Congresswoman Stephanie Bice repeated the debunked claim that contributions by billionaire Mark Zuckerberg to election boards across the country were intended to help Democrats in 2020 swing states. … Lucas continued to butt heads with administration officials over its choice of outside vendors to monitor carbon emissions. … Olivia Porcaro is Cole’s new communications director.

— Randy Krehbiel, Tulsa World

The new Tulsa World app offers personalized features. Download it today.