The U.S. economy is being sabotaged by President Donald Trump’s shutdown, which began on December 22—a result of his insistence on unnecessary border wall funding and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) unwillingness to bring a vote to the floor. By the White House’s own updated estimate, this partial government shutdown will likely reduce quarterly U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.13 percentage points every week it continues, due to direct effects on federal employees and contractors as well as other stalled government operations and spending. Since first-quarter GDP is projected to be roughly $5 trillion, President Trump’s shutdown, which began on December 22, 2018, will cost the U.S. economy $13 billion in lost output every two weeks it continues based on this impact estimate. Until this impasse concludes, hundreds of thousands of federal workers and contractors will miss out on paychecks, prompting economic uncertainty and limiting spending power in communities across the country.
Saharra Griffin is a special assistant at the Center for American Progress Action Fund.