THE RECORD-LONG government shutdown, now entering day 32, may cost the government more than the $5.7 billion President Donald Trump is demanding for a border wall.
In an analysis earlier this month, Beth Ann Bovino, the chief U.S. economist for S&P Global, estimated that every week of the shutdown could shave off $1.2 billion from the country’s gross domestic product. Now in its fifth week, the shutdown could potentially cost America $6 billion.
The shutdown began Dec. 22 when Democrats and Republicans couldn’t come to an agreement on a budget that included $5.7 billion for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. More than 800,000 federal employees have been furloughed or are working without pay.
“The longer this shutdown drags on, the more collateral damage the economy will suffer,” Bovino wrote.
And the longest government shutdown in the country’s history doesn’t appear to have an end in sight. Over the weekend, Democrats rejected the president’s offer of wall funding in exchange for protection for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals recipients and individuals with Temporary Protected Status.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said in a statement on Saturday that the president’s offer is “unacceptable” and does “not represent a good faith effort to restore certainty to people’s lives.”
https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2019-01-22/the-shutdown-could-cost-the-us-more-than-trumps-border-wall