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The halt in government operations has led to $1.2 billion being spent on wages for 750,000 federal employees who are currently furloughed, as estimated by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
According to the CBO, the daily expenditure to compensate these workers, classified as non-essential, amounts to approximately $400 million. With the shutdown extending to three business days, this total has reached $1.2 billion.
This estimate was requested by Senator Joni Ernst on September 30, just days before Congress missed passing a temporary funding bill before the October 1 deadline.
“Schumer’s Shutdown Shenanigans mean taxpayers will be responsible for an additional $400 million today, paying 750,000 non-essential bureaucrats NOT to work,” Ernst stated to Fox News Digital.
“The Democratic maneuvering for taxpayer-funded healthcare for undocumented immigrants has turned into a billion-dollar fiasco,” she commented. “Enough is enough for the radical left. We need to reopen the government and have Washington return to serving veterans, families, and hardworking Americans.”
The CBO’s findings were informed by the 34-day shutdown during President Donald Trump’s first term, which began on December 22, 2018, and concluded on January 25, 2019.
The agency combined that analysis with current staffing numbers provided by the Office of Personnel Management.
It also clarified that the number of furloughed employees is not exact ‘because some agencies might furlough more employees the longer a shutdown persists and others might recall some initially furloughed employees’.
Senator Joni Ernst (R-Iowa) said Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is responsible for the government shutdown that has cost $1.2 billion in wages that will have to be paid to furloughed workers
Schumer, the Senate Minority Leader, and his coalition in the upper chamber are refusing to sign any funding bill that doesn’t restore the tax credits that make healthcare bought through the Affordable Care Act marketplace significantly cheaper for Americans
A 2019 law requires furloughed employees to receive backpay in the event of a shutdown, though they were generally offered backpay before that.
The government shut down on Wednesday because Republicans in the Senate did not have enough votes to advance their bill that would have appropriated funds to federal agencies until November 21, 2025.
Democrats objected to this temporary funding measure because it did not include a permanent extension to tax credits for Americans who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
Referred to as enhanced premium tax credits, they were introduced in 2021 and later extended through the end of 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act.
They have significantly brought down the cost of health insurance for approximately 22 million low- and middle-income Americans. Additionally, the number of enrollees in ACA marketplace health plans has nearly doubled, according to healthcare outlet KFF.
KFF estimates that if these subsidies expire, premiums for many Americans will more than double.
In the case of individuals making $28,000 a year, 79 percent above the federal poverty line which sits at $15,650, they are currently paying an estimated $325 a year for their health plan.
Without the subsidy, that could rise five-fold to $1,562, according to KFF.
Senate Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer of New York, have refused to pass any funding bill that does not permanently extend these tax credits.
President Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance and many others in the GOP have accused Democrats of wanting to fund healthcare for illegal immigrants. The reality is a bit more nuanced, as Democrats want to restore Medicaid eligibility to noncitizen immigrants with legal status. These immigrants had their eligibility stripped away by the Big Beautiful Bill
No deal has been reached between the parties about this, though Vance has said he’s willing to negotiate with Democrats on the ACA subsidies
Trump, Vice President JD Vance and many others in the GOP have accused Democrats of wanting to fund healthcare for illegal immigrants.
The Big Beautiful Bill, passed in July, restricted noncitizen eligibility for Medicaid to lawful permanent residents, Cubans and Haitians who entered the US legally and noncitizens from several Pacific islands that are US territories.
The bill removed access from refugees, asylum seekers, people with temporary protected status and over a dozen other types of immigrants with some sort of legal status.
KFF estimates that 1.4 million noncitizen immigrants will lose their healthcare because of this change, and Democrats do want to reverse this with their funding bill.
US law still holds that people living in the country illegally and without any type of legal status are not allowed to take advantage of federal programs, including Medicaid.
No deal has been reached between the parties about this, though Vance has said he’s willing to negotiate with Democrats on the ACA subsidies.
‘But only after they’ve reopened the government,’ Vance said. ‘You can’t reward this exercise in hostage taking, which is what we would be doing if we allow the government opening to be conditional on the Democrats’ policy disagreement.’
The shutdown has stretched into its fourth day, and most on Capitol Hill believe it will last at least until next week, if not longer.
