White House Takes Risk Directing IRS to Un-Furlough Staff to Process Tax Refunds

Acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney has on several occasions contrasted the Trump administration’s handling of government shutdowns with what he characterizes as the Obama approach of “weaponizing” the lapses in services to make the pain more visible. On Monday, that line was repeated by Russell Vought, Mulvaney’s replacement as White House budget director, as he told reporters that “tax refunds will go out.  They will not be non-excepted activities.  That’s something that we will be sending out guidance on that we’re fixing from past administrations.”