If Republicans in Congress shut down the government over Planned Parenthood funding, as they're currently
on track to do, their party's support will suffer for it—but
the federal budget and national economy will suffer more. It's only been two years since the last time Republicans shut down the government, so we have recent figures on just how much that cost as federal workers were sent home without pay, then later got back pay, and federal contractors had to lay off workers:
The budget office concluded that the furloughs of roughly 40 percent of the civilian workforce — from the Defense Department to the Environmental Protection Agency — hit $2 billion, or $2.5 billion if you add in benefits.
The shutdown led to a total of 6.6 million days of lost work when employees were at home, many of them wanting to work but not even permitted to check their iPhones and BlackBerrys. Many federal contractors had to furlough employees as well and even fire some. And for the most part, those workers were not paid at all.
Other direct costs came from missed fees from national parks, interest due on late payments, missed revenue from tax enforcement and some stop-work orders, among other money that normally flows to government agencies.
That's not getting into the inefficiencies involved in shutting down offices and opening them back up again, or all the Americans who lost out on needed services:
The reports run through a lengthy list of disruptions in 2013. They include a backlog in veterans’ disability claims, nearly 6,300 children left out of Head Start, patients left out of cancer studies at the National Institutes of Health, halted consumer-safety work, delays in tax refunds. The Food and Drug Administration delayed “nearly 500 food and feed domestic inspections and roughly 355 food safety inspections under state contracts,” the budget office said.
This time, that'll include
food stamps for 45 million people being cut off. And Republicans are ready to do it all again.
Sign if you agree: Democrats must stand strong. No cuts to Planned Parenthood. No government shutdowns.