Shutdown
A government shutdown begins when Congress fails to pass funding legislation, known as an appropriations bill. A shutdown can last until the President signs a new bill or a stopgap spending measure, called a Continuing Resolution (CR) passes both chambers of Congress and is signed by the President.
During a government shutdown, non-essential federal employees are furloughed and will not receive their paychecks. This affects a wide range of services and programs, including food assistance for low-income families, federally-funded preschools, immigration court hearings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health research, the Smithsonian museums, air traffic control operations, and FEMA disaster response operations. Some parks may be closed and services like trash collection and park patrols are interrupted. The last shutdown also caused delays in the processing of passports and caused air travel disruptions due to flight attendants calling in sick en masse.
Most federal employees are mission driven and invested in their work, whether it’s weather forecasting or producing GDP statistics or cybersecurity. The missed paychecks are not only personally devastating, but it’s a gut punch to morale. It’s telling them that their work doesn’t matter.
The last government shutdown cost the economy $11 billion, with $3 billion that we will never recover. Shutdowns are inefficient and harm the broader economy by reducing growth, delaying investment, and re-imposing costs once the government resumes normal operations. This is especially true for small and mid-sized businesses, which are most susceptible to a prolonged interruption in business activity.