HOUSTON — We know hundreds of thousands of government employees are directly affected by the government shutdown. But how is it affecting regular citizens?
We’re nearly a week past the longest government shutdown in U.S history, making this now the costliest.
While you may think it's not your money being lost, think again.
First, those paychecks being withheld from federal employees in the past have been paid to them eventually, even when they weren't working.
In the 2013 shutdown, thousands of employees were furloughed for 16 days costing taxpayers about $2 billion in unpaid work.
And while those 420,000 employees aren't making money, they're also not spending it.
S&P estimated the 2013 shutdown took $24 billion out of our economy, and once again, it was much shorter.
Lastly, the money our country would normally be making from our national parks and monuments is not coming in at all.
Estimated at about $400,000 a day. So far, that's over $10 million in revenue that's gone.