Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned on Monday that the government shutdown was “starting to affect” the U.S. economy.
Newsweek has contacted the Department of the Treasury for comment via an email sent outside regular business hours.
Why It Matters
The federal government shutdown, which began on October 1, is now in its third week with no resolution in sight. It has far-reaching consequences that affect millions of Americans, federal workers and critical services. On Monday, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said it could become the longest federal government shutdown in history, adding that he wouldn’t negotiate with Democrats unless they dropped their demands and passed a budget to reopen the government.
Democrats previously rejected a short-term funding fix, demanding that any funding bill include an extension of federal subsidies for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The expiration of those subsidies at the end of the year would result in monthly cost increases for millions of people. Democrats also want any government funding bill to reverse the Medicaid cuts in President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
What To Know
During an appearance on Fox Business’ Mornings With Maria, Bessent told host Maria Bartiromo that he believed the shutdown had “dragged on” because “Democratic friends in the mainstream media have been downplaying” it.
“This is getting serious. It’s starting to affect the real economy. It’s starting to affect people’s lives,” he added.
Bartiromo asked Bessent whether he believed Democrats were holding out “because they want to be there” for an upcoming “No Kings” demonstration in Washington, D.C.
Bessent replied: “If, in fact, they are waiting for this ‘No Kings’ protest, you know, ‘no kings’ means no paychecks. No paychecks and no government.”
The host also asked how the government was going to ensure members of the military did not miss a paycheck despite the shutdown.
Bessent said: “As Vice President Vance said yesterday on your show, we’re having to prioritize payments. So we’re having to hold back on some payments so that our—the brave men and women in the U.S. military can get paid.
“We are having to shuffle things around. We are having to furlough workers here in D.C. and around the country. We had friends visiting from my hometown. They had to run to the zoo in D.C. on Saturday because now it’s closed down. Nothing is open.”
Trump said on Saturday that he had directed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to use “all available funds” to ensure troops are paid on October 15 despite the shutdown.
A Defense Department official previously told Newsweek that the department had “identified approximately $8 billion of unobligated research development testing and evaluation funds (RDTE) from the prior fiscal year that will be used to issue mid-month paychecks to service members in the event the funding lapse continues past October 15th.”
While the move ensures troops are paid on Wednesday, no similar action is being taken for federal employees—thousands of whom are being laid off while others work without pay during the shutdown.
What People Are Saying
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Fox Business: “I think the dirty secret here for why this has dragged on for so long is the Democratic friends in the mainstream media have been downplaying the shutdown. And this is getting serious. It’s starting to affect the real economy. It’s starting to affect people’s lives.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters on Monday: “We’re barreling toward one of the longest shutdowns in American history, unless Democrats drop their partisan demands and pass a clean no strings attached budget to reopen the government and pay our federal workers.”
He added, saying months of work would be needed to reform the ACA: “We have to fix health care in America, and we have ideas to do it, but we have to have government open and operating to do that.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on MSNBC on Monday: “It’s day 13 of the Trump-Republican shutdown, and House Republicans have actually now canceled votes for the third consecutive week because they’d rather keep the government shut down than deal with the cost-of-living crisis that exists in the United States of America. And they certainly have no interest in dealing with the health care crisis that they have created.”
He added: “So we’ve made clear from the very beginning—we’ll sit down with anyone, anytime, anyplace to find a bipartisan path forward toward reopening the government. We want to stand with our hardworking federal employees and certainly our men and women in uniform. But we have to enact a spending agreement that actually meets the needs of the American people, and at the same time decisively addresses the Republican healthcare crisis that is devastating people all across the country.”
What Happens Next
The shutdown is expected to continue as the standoff between Republicans and Democrats shows no sign of ending.