The shutdown of the federal government that started at midnight on Oct. 1 is bad news for the economy and should be resolved as quickly as possible, the National Retail Federation said in an open letter to Congress.
“With the holiday season fast approaching, the economic uncertainty caused by a government shutdown is both unnecessary and damaging, further eroding consumer confidence at a critical time,” the NRF statement said. “While retailers face many external challenges beyond the control of policymakers, this is not one of them. A shutdown is avoidable, and its impact is entirely within the power of Congress to resolve.
“We respectfully ask that every effort be made to restore full government operations as quickly as possible.”
This is the 22nd government shutdown since 1976, according to Newsweek. “Some of these – the shorter ones – have had nominal impacts on the economy. But longer shutdowns, particularly over the last 15 years, have had much more sizable impacts.
“The most recent shutdown [in 2018] and the longest in U.S. history [35 days] came at a big cost. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the five-week partial government shutdown cost the economy $11 billion. While much of that loss was expected to be recovered once federal operations resumed, the report projected a permanent loss of roughly $3 billion in GDP.”
