The Government Shutdown & Reopening
Oct 22, 2013
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As many of you already know, starting at the beginning of the month, the Government shut down for 16 days. Standard & Poor estimates that the shutdown cost the U.S. economy $24 billion during that span. While many government employees were directly affected, they were not the only ones. Many small businesses felt the effects of the shutdown in every corner of the country.
Of the many government contractors, many are self-employed and felt the full force of the shutdown as there contracts (paychecks) were frozen. Additionally, those self-employed small businesses that were in the process of getting an SBA loan were also frozen as no money was available to be given out and the Small Business Administration employees were furloughed.
Furthermore, military families felt the ramifications as well, some directly with their jobs and others who rely on certain benefits like childcare. However, this did not just affect those who were dealing directly with the government, small businesses that revolve around tourism, national parks and many other services saw that the government shutdown was not just a symbol for political purpose but that it impacted their pocketbooks.
The NASE supports the government coming to an agreement and opening back up but we remain concerned that this was a temporary fix as the next deadline of January 15th is only 83 days away. We hope that the Republican led House of Representatives can work together with the Democratic led Senate to ensure a long term fix is agreed to before the next deadline so the self-employed community does not suffer again.
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