Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 08:51 pm
The non-partisan CBO issued a new report Monday showing that the economy lost about $11 billion dollars, with $3 billion permanently lost, due to the Trump shutdown. Democrats were predictably not impressed.
“The President’s shutdown inflicted needless pain and chaos in the lives of millions of Americans, and stole billions of dollars from the economy,” Speaker Pelosi said in a statement sent to PoliticusUSA. “Workers’ financial security, families’ well-being and America’s economic strength all were senselessly sacrificed because of President Trump’s callousness.
“Families across the nation are still trying to recover from a month of missing paychecks and overdue bills, but the President is already threatening a second shutdown if he doesn’t get his way.”
The Pelosi statement opened with, “Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued this statement on a new CBO report showing that the Trump Shutdown has cost the economy $11 billion from Q4 of 2018 to Q1 of 2019, with $3 billion permanently lost.” It should not go unnoticed that the Pelosi properly and in full context referred to the CBO report numbers; it acknowledged that the report says the $8 billion will be recovered as workers receive back pay – and this observance of reality and facts is something Republicans, especially this president, do not do. When the press gives Democrats no credit for adhering to reality and instead cuts things down the middle in a simpleminded effort to be “fair,” they are actually misleading the public.
There are approximately 1.2 million contract type workers who will not actually get back pay, according to an NBC report.
White House economic adviser Kevin Hassett said furloughed federal workers were better off as they were getting a vacation, “In some sense, they’re better off.”
Lara Trump tried her best to run a PR campaign for the Trump shutdown, but stumbled when she said of the shutdown over Trump’s unpopular and unnecessary and ineffective wall, “It is a little bit of pain but it’s going to be for the future of our country.”
Trump’s commerce secretary chimed in to help, saying he didn’t understand why federal workers going without pay had no money, after all “There’s no real reason why they shouldn’t be able to get a loan.”
And Mr. Trump justified Ross’ comments by falsely suggesting in his typically incoherent manner that grocery stores know people and so will give some kind of IOU to furloughed workers.
The shutdown cost the economy billions of dollars for no reason, because Trump ended up agreeing to the essentially the same offer as was on the table prior to the shutdown.
Trump blinked, but we are all paying the bill.
Sarah has been credentialed to cover President Barack Obama, then VP Joe Biden, 2016 Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and exclusively interviewed Speaker Nancy Pelosi multiple times and exclusively covered her first home appearance after the first impeachment of then President Donald Trump.
Sarah is two-time Telly award winning video producer and a member of the Society of Professional Journalists.
Connect with Sarah on Post, Mastodon @PoliticusSarah@Journa.Host, & Twitter.
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