OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, 2019

Floor Speech

Date: Jan. 9, 2019
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Taxes Government Operations

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Mr. NEAL. Mr. Speaker, I thank Mr. Quigley for yielding me the time.

Mr. Speaker, I stand in support of H.R. 264. This bill appropriates desperately needed funds for the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service.

As the shutdown persists, the financial and emotional drain on employees and taxpayers continues. There are tens of thousands of furloughed Treasury employees who want to work and proudly would do so, but they cannot. They also cannot pay bills, cannot afford medical care, and, like us, cannot understand any of this. Every day that passes and every minute the shutdown continues it is too long and too costly. Reopen the government and begin to negotiate.

I spoke to the Treasury Secretary yesterday, along with the IRS Commissioner as well, regarding the impact of the partial shutdown on the IRS and the tax-filing season. I was informed that the IRS will release its contingency plan for the tax-filing season in the next few hours, or, certainly, within the next day and issuing refunds in coming days, apparently, an effort will be made to reach that goal, but it will also require a significant number of IRS employees to return to work without pay.

These developments are no substitute for fully funding the government and reopening the agency. Reminder: The average refund is just under $3,000. That helps out a lot of middle-class individuals who will use it to pay down Christmas debt, perhaps. They depend upon that as part of regular cash flow.

Mr. Speaker, we do not know the full damage and cost of the shutdown, but we knew going into it that somebody was going to get hurt. So we should end it today before any more damage is done.

If a taxpayer calls the IRS right now for assistance, they will hear the following: ``Live telephone assistance is not available at this time. Normal operations will resume as soon as possible.'' But they are expected to go into work as well to help process those tax forms.

The time is now to reopen the government, and as I noted, negotiate.

The time has come for our colleagues on both sides to stand up and vote ``yes'' and fully reopen these agencies.

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