RNC to Dems on Shutdown: 'Hope It Was Worth It'

The Republican National Committee said Thursday that the "devastating impacts" of the government shutdown are not over and cautioned that Democrats would pay the price for voting more than a dozen times against reopening federal agencies.

"If the last 43 days have taught us anything, it is that Democrats are in no position to lead," RNC Deputy Rapid Response Director Sonali Patel said in a press release. "Their foolish decision to hold Americans hostage will haunt them in the 2026 midterms. Hope it was worth it."

According to the RNC, "Americans will now have to bear the burden of Democrats' grossly incompetent decision" to close the government over "a temper tantrum after not getting $1.5 trillion in radical demands."

The U.S. economy lost more than $90 billion during the shutdown, according to the White House, and the RNC pointed to a number of economic consequences:

-- $15 billion was lost in GDP per week the shutdown lasted, according to estimates from Goldman Sachs.

-- The economy shed $7 billion in the shutdown's first 30 days, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

-- The travel industry lost more than $4 billion in the first month of the shutdown.

-- The Federal Reserve will be unable to make informed decisions because government agencies have not collected economic data.

-- Businesses are considering closing because loans they needed to survive were held up as a result of the shutdown, according to the Small Business Administration.

-- Millions of federal contractors who are not eligible for back pay will sustain unrecoverable wage losses.

In a recent appearance on MSNBC, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said that Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., and the "overwhelming majority of Senate Democrats" waged a "valiant fight" from September through November, as they voted repeatedly to keep the government closed "in order to make sure that we were being clear with the American people."

Jeffries said, "Yes, we always support finding common ground," stressing that "we certainly support our hardworking federal employees."

But with the longest government shutdown in U.S. history officially over, following President Donald Trump's signature on a stopgap funding bill passed by Congress earlier this week, federal workers are beginning to question whether their sacrifice was worth it.

Elizabeth McPeak, a furloughed IRS employee in Pittsburgh who is National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 34 first vice president, said colleagues had to beg their landlords for extensions on rent payments and leaned heavily on food banks during the shutdown.

"A month without pay," she said, "is a long time to go."

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