Mulvaney: Obama Administration Weaponized the Last Shutdown, It Won't Happen This Time

Shortly before metaphorically setting Jim Acosta on fire and chasing him around the White House press room, Office of Management and Budget Director Mick Mulvaney have a few words to say on how this shutdown, if hit comes to pass, will work.

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MULVANEY: From an OMB perspective, because we’re involved in managing a lapse or shutdown, and we want to make folks understand that it will look very different than it did under the previous administration. One of the things that I’ve learned since I’ve been in this office is that, there’s no other way to describe it, but the Obama administration weaponized the shutdown in 2013. What they didn’t tell you was they did not encourage agencies use carried forward funds, funds that they were sitting on, nor did they encourage agencies to use transfer authority. They could have made the shutdown in 2013 much less impactful but they chose to make it worse. The only conclusion I can draw is that they did so for political purposes.

I don’t think this comes as a huge shock to anyone. From the inside, I can tell you that it is a completely different attitude. In 2013, as the shutdown approached the federal government issued WARN notices to employees and there was close liaison with unemployement agencies to facilitate registering unemployed federal workers for compensation. None of that is happening this time. In fact, federal offices will be open Monday regardless of a shutdown.

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