Shutdown Starting to Harm Economy, Says Treasury Secretary

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Oct. 13 that the ongoing government shutdown has begun to impact the U.S. economy as it enters its 13th day with no end in sight.

In an interview with Fox Business, he said that the shutdown’s true impact on the economy is not being fully covered by media outlets.

“I think the dirty secret here for why this has dragged on for so long is the Democratic friends in the mainstream media have been downplaying the shutdown, and this is getting serious,” Bessent told Fox’s Maria Bartiromo.

The shutdown, which started on Oct. 1, is now “starting to affect the real economy. It’s starting to affect people’s lives,” he said, although he did not elaborate.

Congress failed to pass a stopgap funding measure before the shutdown was initiated, with Democrats saying that any measure to reopen the government should require an extension of health care subsidies.

Republicans say that the two issues are separate and that the subsidies will end by the end of this year.

Bessent said that in order to allow paychecks to U.S. military service members, the government was having to hold back on payments to other federal workers and services in areas such as the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo.

Smithsonian’s National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute said in an update that the zoo and the rest of the Smithsonian museums were forced to close because of the shutdown. The institute said that workers will still feed and care for the animals.

“We have to shuffle things around; we have to furlough workers here in D.C. and around the country,” Bessent said in the interview.

He reiterated his previous comments that the shutdown was stalling aid for farmers. Official Treasury economic data will be released after the shutdown ends, Bessent said.

Democrats are willing to negotiate on ending the shutdown, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) told Fox News on Oct. 12, but he signaled again that the health care provision needs to be extended.

“We have repeatedly made clear that we will sit down with anyone, any time, any place, go back to the White House, to have a bipartisan discussion about reopening the government, reaching a spending agreement that actually improves the quality of life of the American people and addresses the health care crisis that threatens tens of millions of people across the country,” he said.

“If Republicans continue to refuse to extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits, then tens of millions of people are about to experience dramatically increased premiums, co-pays, and deductibles that will result in health insurance costs doubling or tripling or quadrupling.”

Vice President JD Vance told CBS News in an interview on Oct. 12 that Democrats are engaging in “hostage-taking” and accused party leaders of capitulating to the far-left on a health care dispute. Moderate Democrats, he said, are willing to negotiate on opening the government.

“We’ll negotiate over health care policy, but only once you do your job and open up the people’s government,” Vance said.

Bessent’s comments on Oct. 13 came just three days after Russ Vought, director of the White House Office of Management and Budget, confirmed on social media that federal layoffs had been initiated.

On Oct. 12, Vance told Bartiromo that more layoffs will be on the table as the shutdown continues.

Reuters contributed to this report.