WELL, GOOD: Tax Refunds Will Be Paid During Shutdown, White House Says. “New policy meant to ‘mitigate the impact’ of shutdown, Vice President Mike Pence says.”
The decision, announced Monday by the White House Office of Management and Budget, would remove one of the biggest potential pains for Americans from the shutdown and allow hundreds of billions of dollars to flow once tax filing opens later this month in the event that the shutdown lasts that long.
The administration is trying to make the shutdown as “painless as possible consistent with the law,” Russell Vought, the acting OMB director, told reporters.
“We’re going to continue to take steps like that to mitigate the impact,” Vice President Mike Pence said of the tax refunds.
The Administration can keep all kinds of things going during a partial shutdown, right down to the national parks. As I wrote at the PJM Live Blog yesterday concerning just that, “We called it “Shutdown Theater” when Obama did it. Obama wanted to inflict maximum pain (well, maximum inconvenience, mostly) on his fellow Americans for political advantage. Trump wants to inflict maximum pressure on his well-heeled political opponents.”
Big difference.
h/t SG