Taxpayers Spend Big on Nonessential Back Pay as Schumer Shutdown Drags On

The government shutdown is costing taxpayers $400 million per day to pay furloughed government workers—a total that is reaching nearly $5 billion as the shutdown drags on, according to the head of the Senate DOGE Caucus.  

Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, has proposed legislation to require federal agencies to report to Congress on the number of employees sent home and what it’s costing the taxpayers for them to continue to be paid to not work.  

“The longer Schumer’s shutdown drags on, the costlier it gets,” Ernst told The Daily Signal, a reference to Democrat Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., after Senate Democrats halted the passage of a continuing resolution to keep the government running for the tenth time on Thursday, according to The Associated Press.

“Not only is our economy losing roughly $15 billion every week, but taxpayers are forced to foot the bill for billions of dollars for the bloated bureaucracy’s back-paid vacation,” Ernst continued.

Ernst is the chair of the Senate DOGE Caucus that aims to assist with the cost-cutting efforts of the Trump administration’s Department of Government Efficiency. 

The Congressional Budget Office, in response to an inquiry from Ernst, said each workday the government is closed, taxpayers will spend $400 million to pay 750,000 “nonessential” federal employees not to work. The total is $4.8 billion as of Friday, according to Ernst’s office. 

“My Non-Essential Workers Transparency Act will require every federal agency to promptly report after the shutdown the exact number of furloughed employees and the cost to pay them not to do their job,” Ernst continued.

The act, if passed, would require federal agencies to submit reports to relevant congressional committees within 30 days of the shutdown’s start on:

• The number of employees the agency had on the day a shutdown began.
• The total amount expended by the agency on salaries during the previous fiscal year.
• The number of employees furloughed during a shutdown.
• How much furloughed employees would have earned during a shutdown.
• The number of employees who were not furloughed during a shutdown.
• How much non-furloughed employees earned during a shutdown.

Ernst previously sent a letter to White House Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought recommending how to cut $2 trillion worth of nonessential federal spending during the shutdown. 

Vought is considering laying off thousands of federal employees during the shutdown. 

A spokesperson for Schumer did not respond to inquiries for this story. 

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