Government funding runs out at 12:01 a.m. Sunday, and, if Congress can’t hammer out a deal, a broad range of federal functions will halt.
The most immediate impact will be furloughs and paused paychecks for hundreds of thousands of government employees and contractors. Analysts don’t expect to see major ripple effects across the U.S. economy if a shutdown lasts just a few weeks, but the longer the federal government stays closed, the greater the chances of broader fallout.
Here’s a look at what to expect.
How much would it cost?
The answer mostly hinges on how long a government shutdown might last.
The most recent one lasted 34 days in the winter of 2018-19 and delayed at least $18 billion in spending, which was resumed once the government reopened. That shutdown cost $11 billion at the time, of which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated $3 billion was lost permanently.The 2018-19 shutdown dragged down U.S. economic growth, leading to an $8 billion hit to real gross domestic product, or a loss of 0.2%, according to the CBO. This time around, the Bipartisan Policy Center think tank forecasts a shutdown could cost upward of $1 billion a week.
