How Much Did the Government Shutdown Cost? - East Idaho News
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How Much Did the Government Shutdown Cost?

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ABCNews GovernmentShutdown?  SQUARESPACE CACHEVERSION=1383868458105(WASHINGTON) — Last month’s 16-day partial government shutdown cost the U.S. between $2 billion and $6 billion in lost economic output, the Obama administration claimed Thursday.
 
A new report by the Office of Management and Budget found that federal employees were furloughed for a combined total of 6.6 million work days. Sending roughly 850,000 workers home cost taxpayers $2 billion in back pay for work that was never performed.
 
The report, which details for the first time the economic harm caused by the shutdown, found that close to $4 billion in tax refunds were delayed and that closing national parks led to over $500 million in lost visitor spending.
 
Other federal programs were also negatively impacted. Hundreds of patients were prevented from enrolling in clinical trials and nearly 6,300 children lost access to Head Start programs. The FDA delayed 500 food and feed inspections and 59 airplane accidents were not inspected in a timely or complete manner.
 
Overall, the shutdown is expected to lower fourth quarter growth by up to 0.6 percentage points.
 
The full OMB report can be seen here.

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