The impasse over the budget is taking a toll on the economy and will reduce growth this year by about a half percentage point, according to CBO Director Doug Elmendorf.
"We think it's an issue now and will be increasingly an issue in the second half of the year," he told reporters last week.
His agency has been affected, too. Officials are unsure about whether to replace workers who leave because it's impossible to plan on next year's budget.
"That must play out on a much, much larger scale with more significant enterprises than ours," Elmendorf said.