Republican Senator Tim Scott Guest-Hosts The Five on Fox News

In a highly unusual move, Fox News tapped a sitting member of Congress to guest-host one of its shows on Monday.

Republican Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina sat at the table on Monday’s edition of The Five, not as a guest, but as a fill-in for regular host Dana Perino.

Scott has been making the media rounds to tout his new book, including on Monday’s Fox & Friends where he appeared as a guest.

Viewers of The Five were greeted with the usual introductions with the exception of Scott. Co-host Jesse Watters jokingly introduced Scott as “Dana Perino,” prompting laughter around the table.

The A block kicked off with a discussion about the Inflation Reduction Act the Senate passed on Sunday by a 51-50 vote. The legislation appropriates more than $430 billion over 10 years to address climate change, allows Medicare to negotiate the prices of certain pharmaceuticals, and implements a minimum tax rate of 15% on large corporations, among other provisions. To help enforce the federal tax code, the bill will add 87,000 agents to the Internal Revenue Service.

The House will take up the bill this week.

Scott, who voted against the legislation, railed against it on Monday’s installment of The Five.

“The scariest part for our viewers?” said Scott, using the first person plural possessive. “Eighty-seven thousand new employees hunting for taxes from people making less than $200,000.”

The senator was reiterating a talking point of Republicans, stating that the bulk of audits would be targeted at people making less than $200,000 a year. However, IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig, an appointee of Donald Trump, said that if given the resources, the agency will not increase audits of households making less than $400,000 a year.

“I call it the inflation seduction act,” Scott said. “It has nothing to do with reducing inflation.”

Fox News has featured several Republican lawmakers on its show Outnumbered. In 2019, Media Matters noted that on at least 18 occasions, a Republican lawmaker had hosted the show in the previous 17 months.

However, this appears to be the first time a sitting lawmaker has filled in on The Five.

Watch above via Fox News.