Shutdown starting to affect US economy: Bessent

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Monday the government shutdown is starting to affect the U.S. economy.

During an interview on Fox Business Network’s “Mornings with Maria,” Bessent said the media is not sufficiently covering the gravity of the shutdown, now in its 13th day.

“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,” Bessent told Bartiromo.

“It’s starting to affect the real economy. It’s starting to affect people’s lives,” he continued.

The government shut down at the start of the month after Democrats refused to support a GOP funding plan without first addressing the enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, which are set to expire at the end of the year, increasing insurance premiums for millions of Americans.

The veteran business journalist, who is closely aligned with President Trump, said she thinks Democrats are really holding out on agreeing to reopen the government “because they want to be there for next weekend’s ‘No Kings’ march in Washington.”

Asked to respond to that hypothesis, Bessent said, “If, in fact, they are waiting for this ‘No Kings’ protest, you know, ‘no kings’ means no paychecks. No paychecks and no government.”

Hundreds of thousands of workers have been furloughed since the shutdown began at the beginning of the month, and the Trump administration, in a court filing on Friday, said more than 4,000 federal employees would soon be fired because of the shutdown.