Congressman Cohen Votes to Re-Open Internal Revenue Service
About 2.4 million in Tennessee Receive Tax Refunds Each Year
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Today, Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-09) joined House Democrats and eight Republicans to pass the FY 2019 Department of the Treasury and IRS appropriations bill to remove all doubt that hard-working Tennesseans will receive their tax refunds in full and on time. Each year, about 2.4 million Tennessee households receive an average tax return of about $2,713, which could be in jeopardy as long as the President and Senate Republicans refuse to end the Trump Shutdown and fully re-open IRS.
Earlier this week, after House Democrats announced plans to pass this bill, the Trump Administration suddenly reversed its previous announcement that the IRS is unable to issue tax refunds during a shutdown and stated it will bring back some furloughed employees. However, the only way to prevent confusion and ensure that all Americans will receive their tax refunds without delay is to fully re-open the IRS and bring all IRS employees back to work.
"There should be absolutely no confusion that Memphians and all Tennesseans will receive their tax refunds in full and on time. It's past time we re-open government," said Congressman Cohen.
On Day One of the new Congress last week, the House Democratic Majority took the first steps to restore certainty to people's lives by passing a complete funding package with Senate Republican-drafted language to re-open government. Yet, Senate Republicans refused to bring that bill up for a vote. Now, over the coming days, House Democrats have announced plans to take action to re-open all government agencies that are shut by passing individual, bipartisan appropriations bills.
"The President needs to put the lives of federal government workers and Americans looking forward to their tax refunds first and agree to sign the legislation to re-open the Department of the Treasury and the IRS as soon as the Senate passes this legislation," said Congressman Cohen. "House Democrats believe in governing responsibly and will not allow hard-working Tennesseans or the American people to be held hostage by the President's reckless demands. We will continue to work to re-open government, and to deliver progress for all Americans."