President Donald J. Trump and his administration have reiterated their stance that the 43-day government shutdown attributed to Democrats in late 2025 negatively impacted the United States economy. According to statements from administration officials, this period of halted government operations resulted in a significant reduction in economic growth.
The Council of Economic Advisers warned on October 1, 2025: “CEA analysis indicates that the shutdown may have wide-ranging economic effects that reduce American prospects through lower growth… These effects will intensify the longer the shutdown lasts.”
Secretary of the Treasury Scott Bessent stated on October 2, 2025: “This isn’t the way to have a discussion, shutting down the government and lowering the GDP… We could see a hit to the GDP, a hit to growth, and a hit to working America.” The White House also issued an alert on October 3, noting that all states would be affected economically by what they called the Democrat Shutdown.
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett commented on October 5, “It’s just commonsense to avoid layoffs like that, to avoid the $15 billion a week that the Council of Economic Advisers says will harm GDP.”
Further remarks from Secretary Bessent on November 9 highlighted concerns about quarterly economic performance: “There are estimates that the economy — economic growth for this quarter — could be cut by as much as half.” On that same day, Director Hassett referenced outside analysis: “Goldman Sachs — they have a top economic team — and they’re estimating that we’ve already knocked about 1.5% off of GDP. I think that number is probably low if we keep going…”
On December 16, Secretary Bessent addressed both political and economic impacts: “They were unable to stop President Trump. They tried to stop him in the courts. They tried to stop in the media. Then they went to the extreme — we had the longest government shutdown in history. It was a hit to GDP.”
President Trump himself repeatedly pointed out losses attributed to this period:
- On December 29: “Had the shutdown not occurred, we would’ve had an extra point and a quarter.”
- On January 13: “That’s despite the Democrat Shutdown, where we lost at least one-and-a-half points.”
- On January 29: “Without the shutdown, we would have picked up about a point and a half more…”
- On February 2: “We lost a point and a half because of the 43-day shutdown.”
- On February 8: "We had a [43-day] shutdown. I call it the ‘Democrat Shutdown,’ and because of that, I lost a point-and-a-half.”
Outside analysts also weighed in during this period. CNN’s Matt Egan reported on September 29 that each week of government shutdown typically reduces gross domestic product by approximately two-tenths of one percent.
The Congressional Budget Office stated on October 29: “The agency estimates that real gross domestic product (GDP), which has been adjusted to remove the effects of inflation, will be lower in the fourth quarter of 2025 than it would have been in the absence of a shutdown. Depending on its length, the government shutdown will reduce annualized real GDP growth in that quarter by 1.0 to 2.0 percentage points.”
Goldman Sachs predicted on November 2: "Assuming the shutdown lasts roughly six weeks, we expect it to reduce quarter-on-quarter annualized real GDP growth in 4Q2025 by 1.15pp…” EY-Parthenon added context on November 7 regarding extended disruptions: "If it extends for two months — with Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefit disruptions and air-travel reductions —the cumulative drag could reach 1.8–2.0ppt, a material hit even after partial recovery once operations resume."
Despite these setbacks attributed by officials and economists alike largely due to policy disputes over federal funding priorities during late-2025's lengthy impasse between parties in Congress and at The White House—government data released early this year showed strong business investment alongside private-sector job creation fueling higher-than-expected wage gains for Americans throughout most of last year.
