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The federal government shutdown prices taxpayers $400 million day by day to pay federal workers who usually are not actively working, totaling $1.2 billion as of Friday, Congressional Finances Workplace (CBO) knowledge revealed by Sen. Joni Ernst’s, R-Iowa, workplace estimates.
“Schumer’s Shutdown Shenanigans imply taxpayers can be on the hook for one more $400 million at present to pay 750,000 non-essential bureaucrats NOT to work,” Ernst stated in remark to Fox Information Digital Friday.
“Democrats’ political stunt to combat for taxpayer-funded healthcare for unlawful immigrants has formally change into a billion-dollar boondoggle,” she added. “Sufficient must be sufficient for the unconventional left. We should reopen the federal government and get Washington again to work serving veterans, households, and hardworking People.”
A regulation handed in 2019 requires furloughed workers obtain backpay after a funding settlement is reached and a shutdown ends. The CBO discovered that the furloughed workers’ day by day value of compensation sits at about $400 million, or a complete of $1.2 billion as of Friday.
WHITE HOUSE SAYS FEDERAL LAYOFFS COULD HIT ‘THOUSANDS’ AHEAD OF TRUMP, VOUGHT MEETING
Sen. Joni Ernst’s workplace launched Congressional Finances Workplace knowledge exhibiting the federal government shutdown is anticipated to value taxpayers $400 million a day to pay furloughed federal workers. (Reuters)
“Utilizing info from the companies’ contingency plans and the Workplace of Personnel Administration (OPM), CBO estimates that beneath a lapse in discretionary funding for fiscal 12 months 2026 about 750,000 workers could possibly be furloughed every day; the overall day by day value of their compensation could be roughly $400 million,” a letter from the Congressional Finances Workplace to Ernst said Tuesday. The info was launched after the Iowa Republican requested CBO present an information value breakdown of the shutdown in September because the deadline clock ran out.
The CBO knowledge largely was primarily based on statistics from a five-week partial shutdown that ran from Dec. 22, 2018, till Jan. 25, 2019, beneath the primary Trump administration, the workplace famous in its letter to Ernst.
The letter added that the variety of furloughed federal workers, which is at present estimated to sit down at about 750,000 staffers, might range by the day “as a result of some companies would possibly furlough extra workers the longer a shutdown persists and others would possibly recall some initially furloughed workers.”
The federal government shut down early Wednesday morning after Senate lawmakers failed to achieve a price range settlement. Home lawmakers had authorized a short-term extension of fiscal 12 months 2025 funding earlier in September that aimed to maintain the federal government funded by Nov. 21.
The Trump administration and Republicans have since pinned blame for the shutdown on Democrats, claiming they sought taxpayer-funded medical advantages for unlawful immigrants. Democrats have denied they wish to fund healthcare for unlawful immigrants, and as an alternative have blamed Republicans for the shutdown.
Fox Information Digital reached out to Schumer’s workplace for touch upon the CBO knowledge and Ernst’s remarks however didn’t instantly obtain a reply.
White Home spokesman Kush Desai slammed Democrats as “not severe folks” when requested in regards to the CBO knowledge Friday morning.
HERE’S WHAT TRUMP WANTS TO DO TO RESHAPE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DURING THE SHUTDOWN
“Democrats are burning $400 million a day to pay federal staff to not work as a result of they wish to spend $200 billion on free well being look after unlawful aliens,” Desai advised Fox Information Digital. “These usually are not severe folks.”
Trump repeatedly has stated he didn’t need a shutdown to unfold, however famous Tuesday because the clock ran out that some “good” might come from it.
The administration is anticipated to put off federal workers throughout varied companies amid the shutdown, with President Donald Trump assembly Workplace of Administration and Finances chief Russell Vought, middle, to map out which departments and packages to focus on for cuts. (Evan Vucci/The Related Press)
“A variety of good can come down from shutdowns,” he advised reporters. “We will eliminate a variety of issues that we did not need, and so they’d be Democrat issues. However they need open borders. They need males enjoying in girls’s sports activities. They need transgender for everyone. They by no means cease. They do not study. We received an election in a landslide.”
SOCIAL SECURITY, AIRPORTS, FOOD STAMPS: HOW ARE YOU AFFECTED DURING A GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN?
The administration is anticipated to put off federal workers throughout varied companies amid the shutdown, with Trump assembly Workplace of Administration and Finances chief Russell Vought Thursday to map out which departments and packages to focus on for cuts.
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt speaks to reporters outdoors the West Wing of the White Home in Washington, Oct. 2, 2025. (Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)
White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt advised reporters Thursday that “hundreds” of workers will seemingly be laid off.
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“Look, it is seemingly going to be within the hundreds,” Leavitt stated. “It is an excellent query. And that is one thing that the Workplace of Administration and Finances and all the staff on the White Home right here, once more, is sadly having to work on at present.”
