Donald Trump (AP)
The ongoing US government shutdown is costing taxpayers an estimated $400 million per day in wages for federal employees who are not currently working, according to data from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released by the office of Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa). As of Friday, the total cost has reached approximately $1.2 billion.”Schumer’s Shutdown Shenanigans mean taxpayers will be on the hook for another $400 million today to pay 750,000 non-essential bureaucrats NOT to work,” Ernst was quoted as saying by Fox News.”Democrats’ political stunt to fight for taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal immigrants has officially become a billion-dollar boondoggle. Enough has to be enough for the radical left. We must reopen the government and get Washington back to work serving veterans, families and hardworking Americans,” she added. The data was released following a request by Ernst, who asked the CBO in September to provide a cost breakdown of the ongoing shutdown as the government approached its funding deadline.In its letter to Ernst, the CBO said its estimates were primarily based on figures from the five-week partial government shutdown that lasted from December 22, 2018, to January 25, 2019, during the first Trump administration. The letter noted that the number of furloughed federal employees, estimated at around 750,000, could fluctuate daily, as “some agencies might furlough more employees the longer a shutdown persists and others might recall some initially furloughed employees.”A 2019 law mandates that furloughed federal employees receive back pay once a funding deal is reached and the shutdown concludes.The US government shutdown entered its fourth day on Saturday with no resolution in sight, as negotiations between Republican and Democratic leaders remain deadlocked.The impasse is expected to continue at least until next week, with the Senate postponing votes until Monday and the House canceling all votes for the week, resuming on October 14, according to NBC News.Republicans have said they will refuse to negotiate until Democrats approve the GOP’s short-term funding bill, which is intended to reopen the government and allow more time to negotiate a broader funding agreement.Trump has repeatedly stated that he did not want a government shutdown, but on Tuesday, as the funding deadline passed, he suggested that some “good” could result from the impasse.White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said to reporters on Friday that 1.3 million members of the US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Space Force are not receiving pay due to the “Democrat shutdown.”
