A tale of two Grassleys

The 2022 Inflation Reduction Act relied heavily on increased IRS enforcement to provide “pay-fors” under congressional budget rules. The bill provided roughly $80 billion in additional IRS funding over a ten-year period, including about $45 billion for enforcement.

2022 Senator Chuck Grassley was aghast:

“Are they going to have a strike force that goes in with AK-15s already loaded, ready to shoot some small-business person in Iowa?” …

“With 87,000 additional employees, you can imagine what that harassment is going to be to middle-class Americans and our small-business people.”

Fast-forward to 2025 and another budget reconciliation bill—this one providing roughly $170 billion for immigration enforcement, including about $45 billion for detention facilities alone. We now have a different Senator Grassley.

From a 2025 Grassley press release:

The One Big Beautiful Bill Act allocated significant federal funds to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), dramatically enhancing ICE’s ability to safeguard American communities. The ICE funding was shepherded into law by the Senate Judiciary Committee, under the leadership of Chairman Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).

“America’s brave ICE officers are putting their own lives on the line to make our communities safer,” Grassley said. “I was proud to secure historic investments in border security and immigration enforcement through Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act. These measures ensure law enforcement officers have the tools they need to protect American citizens from foreign criminals and terrorists. I applaud ICE for its tireless work to defend our nation.”

As part of Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Grassley v.2025 championed massive new funding for recruitment and retention of ICE staff and to support enforcement and removal operations.

The IRS has yet to kill anyone since the enactment of the IRA. There have been no widespread armed IRS break-ins at small businesses and no extrajudicial killings of alleged tax scofflaws. Nor has the IRS sent anyone to foreign torture prisons—or to any prison—without due process.

Immigration enforcement is another matter. ICE and Border Patrol agents have routinely conducted worksite raids and raised havoc with small businesses by arresting and disappearing their employees. And now the immigration enforcers are killing bystanders and gaslighting us about what we see on the videos.

2022 Senator Grassley, the defender of small businesses and their civil liberties, surely would have spoken up against these abuses. 2025 Grassley is more reticent. Here is 2025 Grassley on the Renee Good shooting:

“We wish nobody was killed, but we don’t know the exact situation under which that happened and the FBI is investigating… I am going to wait until the FBI investigation is over before I draw any conclusions,” Grassley said.

How’s that investigation going, Senator? Expecting Kash Patel’s FBI to hold immigration enforcement accountable is like expecting O.J. to find the real killer. Of course, 2025 Grassley voted to confirm the comically unqualified Patel.

If ever a politician had nothing to lose and nothing to fear in speaking up, it is this nonagenarian senator from a safe seat. With senior positions on both the Judiciary and Finance Committees, he could be a powerful voice for executive restraint and the rule of law.

If only 2022 Senator Grassley were still around.

Reminder: I speak only for myself, not for anyone I have ever been or will be employed by or associated with.