Cost of the Shutdown

The partial federal government shutdown that began on Oct. 1 has resulted in hundreds of thousands of civil servants being furloughed at agencies across the government, disrupting a wide range of important programs and services provided to individuals, communities, businesses and states throughout the country.

While employees involved in public safety, national security and other areas of the government have remained on the job, civil servants handling important government functions dealing with public health, consumer protection, the environment, scientific research and so much more have been sidelined.

In an effort to document the real-life impact of the shutdown, the Partnership for Public Service has launched a new product in the Federal Harms Tracker series. The Cost of the Shutdown curates news stories daily describing the harm caused by the disruption or halting of vital services provided by the government.

The budget standoff comes at a particularly perilous time for our country, one in which the Trump administration has already adversely affected the operations of our government through cutting its workforce by more than 200,000 federal employees through firings and a deferred resignation program, with that number expected to reach 300,000 by the end of the year.

The stories included below demonstrate the many ways that our federal government and federal employees make our nation safer, stronger, healthier and more prosperous, and the harm that occurs when their work is abruptly halted.

We invite you to explore these stories of impact, share what resonates with you on your social media channels and help call attention to the very real harm being done to our nation and our communities during this government shutdown. If you have a story to share from your local media, please email it to us at federalharms@ourpublicservice.org.