Republicans in Congress are attempting to reduce the $80 billion increase in funding for the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) that Democrats approved as part of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. The funding was justified as a way to correct years of underfunding for the tax collection agency, leading to poor customer service and processing delays. The additional funding will be used for modernization and IT improvements as well as hiring 87,000 new IRS employees to help raise an additional $204 billion in tax revenue over a 10-year period. However, in January the House voted 221-210, along a party line…

U.S. consumer advocates could be moving to limit the use of gas stoves in Americans’ homes in order to protect children’s health. This winter, members of the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) began floating ways to stop indoor use of gas stoves, citing research linking them with an increased risk of childhood asthma. For example, the CPSC pointed to a study published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health that said gas stoves are responsible for 12.7% of childhood asthma cases in the U.S. “When gas stoves are turned on and burning at a hot temperature,…