A By-the-Numbers Reminder of Republicans’ Last Government Shutdown
Almost two years ago, House Republicans’ manufactured crisis over funding the government resulted in a sixteen-day government shutdown. Here’s a reminder of what those sixteen days of partisanship and uncertainty meant for Americans across the country:
$24 billion: Amount the 16-day shutdown took out of the economy
$4 billion: Tax refunds that were delayed
$2 billion: Payroll cost or lost productivity of furloughed workers
6.6 million: Combined total of days that federal employees were furloughed for – At its peak, about 850,000 individuals per day were furloughed
2 million: Liters of U.S. products were left sitting at ports, unable to ship
1.2 million: IRS verification requests that could not be processed, potentially delaying approval of mortgages and other loans
120,000: Fewer private sector jobs created during the first two weeks of October 2013
20,000: Veterans’ disability claims, per week, that were stalled
6,300: Children served by Head Start grantees that were forced to close their centers for up to nine days
1,400: Military service members that experienced delays in workshops that help them transition to civilian life and employment
700: Small business applications, amounting to $140 million in loans, which were unable to be processed
500: Food and feed domestic inspections that were delayed
2: Weeks in cutbacks to flu season surveillance and monitoring that left local public health authorities without access to complete national flu season data
80%: Percentage of Americans who disapproved of the 2013 government shutdown. [Washington Post, 10/22/13]
63%: Percentage of Americans who had an unfavorable view of the Republican Party following the shutdown. [Washington Post, 10/22/13]
Unfortunately, it looks like House Republicans are gearing up for a shutdown sequel. Here’s a second by-the-numbers look at how their current shutdown strategy is panning out:
71%: Percentage of Americans who say it is more important for Congress to approve a spending bill to keep the government open than it is to eliminate all federal funds for Planned Parenthood. [CNN/ORC Poll, 9/14/15]
31: Number of House Republicans who signed a letter threatening to vote against any spending bill, including one to keep the government open, unless Planned Parenthood is defunded. [Heritage Action]
7: Legislative days left to fund the government before the end of the fiscal year
[Unless otherwise noted, all information comes from OMB’s November 2013 report.]
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