Congressman Morgan McGarvey Highlights Serious Impact of a Potential Republican Shutdown

FROM CONGRESSMAN MORGAN McGARVEY, D-LOUISVILLE

WASHINGTON, DC (September 22, 2023) — As House Republicans continue to fail to govern, Congressman Morgan McGarvey (KY-03) highlighted how a government shutdown would impact Kentuckians, according to a recent report from the Joint Economic Committee (JEC).  

“It will be catastrophic for our country and our economy if the extremist MAGA Republicans succeed in shutting down our government,” said Rep. McGarvey. “Our job as legislators is to pass a budget. Instead, Republican Freedom Caucus members prefer performative politics and pain over people and progress. A shutdown, in and of itself, does not save the country money, but it will take food off the table and money away from many hardworking Americans in the short term. Make no mistake: my Democratic colleagues and I are ready to keep our government open and vote on legislation free of extremist, partisan policies that have no place in an appropriations bill. Let’s stop playing political games and start working together to avoid a disastrous shutdown.”

The JEC report outlines the serious impact a Republican government shutdown would have: it would harm the U.S. economy, jeopardize critical benefits like SNAP and TANF, and delay passport processing — which impacted hundreds of Louisvillians earlier this year. It would also mean that Kentucky’s 27,567 federal employees could either be prevented from working or required to work without pay.

Further details about how a disastrous Republican shutdown would hurt Kentuckians are below:

·           Creating economic uncertainty: The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimated that the five-week partial government shutdown in 2018-2019 reduced economic output by $11 billion in the following two quarters—including $3 billion that the U.S. economy never regained.

·           Hurting small businesses: A Republican shutdown would mean small businesses may encounter delays in receiving loans from the federal government, and it would also disrupt the average $13 billion per week in federal contracts that go to businesses throughout the country—nearly $3 billion of which goes to small businesses.

·           Disrupting government services: A bipartisan congressional report found that the last three government shutdowns led to the equivalent of 56,940 hours in lost productivity from federal workers being furloughed. These lost work hours deprived the American people of important public services, delayed furloughed federal employees from receiving back pay, and cost the government at least $338 million in additional processing costs and late fees.

·           Jeopardizing government assistance: Over 42 million Americans who receive Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits would see their average monthly benefit amount of $236 at risk, and over 2.8 million Americans who receive Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) benefits could be harmed if the federal portion of TANF funding is not renewed.