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We Now Know the Immediate Costs of the Shutdown to Our Economy, and It's Way More Than the Cost of Trump's Wall

We Now Know the Immediate Costs of the Shutdown to Our Economy, and It's Way More Than the Cost of Trump's Wall
US President Donald Trump inspects border wall prototypes with Chief Patrol Agent Rodney S. Scott in San Diego, California on March 13, 2018. (MANDEL NGAN/AFP/Getty Images)

Released by Trump's own agency.

As the government reopened after a closure of nearly 35 days, longest shutdown in American history, the Congressional Budget Office released its estimate of the total cost, and the results.

The office estimates a total loss of $11 billion, most of which will be recovered with federal employees returning to work. However, the report states that $3 billion has likely been permanently lost:


"Among those who experienced the largest and most direct negative effects are federal workers who faced delayed compensation and private-sector entities that lost business. Some of those private-sector entities will never recoup that lost income."

The immediate amount is almost double the $5.7 billion demanded by Trump to fund a wall at the southern border. Trump's insistence on the funding allegation is the reason a majority of Americans blame him for the disastrous shutdown. The $3 billion dollars permanently lost is more than half of the allocation he was demanding.

Americans on Twitter are calling attention to the senseless waste of money.

It's clear that—as far as Twitter is concerned—this was the Trump shutdown.

Americans are livid.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) also spoke to the effects of the shutdown:

"The President's shutdown inflicted needless pain and chaos in the lives of millions of Americans, and it stole billions of dollars from the economy...When the Congress completes its bipartisan, bicameral work to fund government, the President should swiftly sign that legislation to avert another shutdown."

However—barring billions of dollars for a wall many believe to be ineffective and impractical—Trump has said he's willing to shut down the government again when the continuing resolution that reopened it expires on February 15.

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