Enrst says shutdown will cost taxpayers $400 million a day

WASHINGTON — Iowa Republican Joni Ernst roasted Democrats on the Senate floor Tuesday for not voting to avoid a government shutdown.

President Trump and Congress failed to strike an agreement to keep government programs and services running by Wednesday’s deadline. Ernst cited a Congressional Budget Office report that says paying thousands of non-essential bureaucrats for not working during the shutdown would cost taxpayers about $400 million a day. “The same Washington politicians who were whining about DOGE laying off unnecessary bureaucrats just a few months ago are now exposing who is and isn’t an essential employee by forcing a government shutdown. In the past, non-essential employees were sent home and eventually paid for not working during a shutdown. This is an absolute waste of taxpayers’ dollars.”

It’s the first government shutdown since the record-breaking 35 day shutdown in December 2018 and January 2019. Ernst says when Democrats forced that shutdown, it had a tremendous impact.  “During that time, food safety inspections were stopped; permanent damage was done to some of our national parks; scientific research was put on hold; applications for small business loans became backlogged; the low-income folks, the elderly, and people with disabilities lost rental assistance and were forced to live in fear of eviction.”

Roughly 750,000 federal workers are expected to be furloughed and many federal offices will be shuttered.