And it’s only going to get worse.
Safety Net
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said there may not be enough money to keep food stamp benefits flowing to 38 million recipients past February.
That spending accounts for about 10 percent of the food U.S. families buy for their homes, with purchases spread across some 260,000 retailers, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Joe Brusuelas, chief economist with financial consultant RSM US LLP, estimates the loss of food stamp funding alone would strip at least 0.53 percent from the GDP.
Other portions of the safety net are also at risk. The Department of Housing and Urban Development has said it can’t renew 1,150 rental assistance contracts with private landlords that expired in December or will expire in January, accounting for some 40,000 low-income households.
Another 550 rental assistance contracts expire in February, affecting an additional 16,000 households. And if the shutdown stretches into March, subsidies for the great majority of contracts will end, along with all subsidy payments for the largest rental assistance program, jeopardizing the vouchers used by 2.2 million low-income households, said Sharon Parrott, a senior fellow at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
Landlords nationwide may then face an increasingly dire choice, possibly forcing tenants to pay full monthly rent or evicting them.
Work Without Pay
An extended shutdown will also test the limits of how long government employees and contractors will keep working without pay -- an issue for those designated as “essential” and told to remain on the job even though paychecks have been suspended. While most workers have complied so far, an extended shutdown, combined with employers eager to hire in the tight labor market, could challenge both their loyalty and savings.
Transportation Security Administration security officers are already calling in sick at twice the usual rate, forcing airports in Miami, Houston and Virginia to consolidate security lanes. Hydrick Thomas, TSA council president for the American Federation of Government Employees, said in a statement that if the government continues to ask employees to work without pay, “we’re risking losing them.”
If TSA officers leave in large numbers, the government would struggle to replace them during a shutdown, potentially crippling air travel and exposing passengers to greater risk.