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Neal Requests Secretary Mnuchin Testify at Ways & Means Hearing on Shutdown Impacts

January 17, 2019

WASHINGTON, DC – Last night, Ways & Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-MA) sent a letter to Department of Treasury (Treasury) Secretary Steven Mnuchin, inviting him to appear before the committee on Thursday, January 24, at a hearing on the government shutdown's impact on the Department of Treasury and American taxpayers.

Recently, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced that tax filing season will begin on January 28, and stated that the issuing of tax refunds will proceed despite the ongoing government shutdown. Earlier this week, Treasury released an IRS contingency plan that calls for more than 45,000 of the agency's furloughed employees to return to work without pay for filing season.

The upcoming Ways & Means hearing will provide Secretary Mnuchin with an opportunity to brief Congress and the American people on specifically how his agency intends to move forward with filing season during the shutdown; the more than 70,000 furloughed Treasury and IRS employees who have already missed a paycheck; as well as difficulties taxpayers are facing as they seek assistance from the Treasury Department during this interruption in services.

Full text of Chairman Neal's letter to the Secretary is available HERE.

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