Monday numbers

by Chris Fitzsimon

16—number of days the federal government was shutdown (“What You Can Get For The Price Of A Shutdown, Think Progress, October 17, 2013)

3.6 billion—amount in dollars of the cost of the shutdown to the nation’s gross domestic product from the lost government services alone, according to economic research firm IHS Global Insight (“Shutdown to Cost U.S. Billions, Analysts Say, While Eroding Confidence,” New York Times, October 18, 2013)

24 billion—total amount in dollars taken out of the national economy by the federal shutdown according to Standard & Poor’s (“The Government Shutdown Has Cost The Economy $24 Billion, Think Progress, October 16, 2013)

450,000—amount in dollars lost in consumer spending per day at the National Park Service alone per day of the shutdown (“Shutdown to Cost U.S. Billions, Analysts Say, While Eroding Confidence,” New York Times, October 18, 2013)

800,000—number of federal employees barred from working and from receiving pay during the shutdown (Ibid)

6—number of members of the NC congressional delegation who voted against the bill to end the shutdown and prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its debts (“Congress votes to avoid default, end shutdown – six in NC delegation say No,” Progressive Pulse, October 17, 2013)

6—number of members of the NC Congressional delegation who voted against the bill to end the shutdown who are Republican members of the U.S. House (Ibid)

80—number of members of US House who signed a letter written by North Carolina Congressman Mark Meadows vowing to shutdown the federal government unless the Affordable Care Act was defunded (“Notes on a Shutdown,” N.C. Policy Watch, October 17, 2013)

150—number of days before the 2012 election that Rep. Meadows told a tea party forum that he wanted to send President Barak Obama “back to Kenya or wherever.” (Mark Meadows at Tea Party Express Rally, June 9, 2012, posted on YouTube June 22, 2013)

2—number of days that North Carolina stopped providing nutritional benefits for infants and pregnant women under the federally-funded WIC program during the shutdown before restoring them after public outrage (“Price: North Carolina stopping WIC vouchers for two days really wrong,” Progressive Pulse, October 18, 2013)

0—number of other states that interrupted WIC benefits during the shutdown (Ibid)

3—number of days before the end of the federal shutdown that North Carolina stopped taking applications for the federally-funded Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Program (“NC shutting down Work First,” October 15, 2013)

0—number of other states that stopped taking applications for Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Program during the federal government shutdown (Ibid)

1—number of days before the final vote on the bill to end the shutdown and prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its debts that the political arm of the Heritage Foundation demanded that members of Congress vote against ending the shutdown (“Key Vote: “NO” on Senate-Negotiated Spending and Debt Deal , Heritage Action for America, October 16, 2013)

5—number of days after the shutdown ended that Governor Pat McCrory will appear at event in Washington sponsored by the Heritage Foundation (Governor Pat McCrory’s Public Schedule, Office of Governor Pat McCrory)

Chris Fitzsimon is Executive Director of NC Policy Watch