Feds' Lost Spending Will Contribute to Shutdown's $3B in Permanent Economic Damage

The U.S. economy will suffer a permanent $3 billion hit as a result of the partial government shutdown, according to an estimate by the Congressional Budget Office, in large part due to lost economic activity by impacted federal employees. More immediate effects will be much more severe, with the economy seeing $11 billion in lost productivity in the fourth quarter of 2018 and the first quarter of 2019. Much of that will be recouped in the subsequent months of 2019, CBO found in its report, though some of the losses will never be recovered.