By Editor,James Cirrone

Copyright dailymail

The government shutdown has forced taxpayers to shell out $1.2 billion in wages for 750,000 federal employees who have been furloughed, according to an estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

The CBO said the daily cost of compensating these workers, who were deemed non-essential, will be around $400 million. Now that the government has been shut down for three business days, that has swelled to $1.2 billion.

The estimate was commissioned by Senator Joni Ernst on September 30, days before Congress failed to pass a stopgap bill before the midnight deadline on October 1.

‘Schumer’s Shutdown Shenanigans mean taxpayers will be on the hook for another $400 million today to pay 750,000 non-essential bureaucrats NOT to work,’ Ernst said in a statement to Fox News Digital.

‘Democrats’ political stunt to fight for taxpayer-funded healthcare for illegal immigrants has officially become a billion-dollar boondoggle,’ she added. ‘Enough has to be enough for the radical left. We must reopen the government and get Washington back to work serving veterans, families and hardworking Americans.’

The CBO’s conclusion was based on data from the 34-day shutdown under President Donald Trump’s first term. It lasted from December 22, 2018, until January 25, 2019.

The agency combined that analysis with current staffing numbers provided by the Office of Personnel Management.

It also clarified that the number of furloughed employees is not exact ‘because some agencies might furlough more employees the longer a shutdown persists and others might recall some initially furloughed employees’.

A 2019 law requires furloughed employees to receive backpay in the event of a shutdown, though they were generally offered backpay before that.

The government shut down on Wednesday because Republicans in the Senate did not have enough votes to advance their bill that would have appropriated funds to federal agencies until November 21, 2025.

Democrats objected to this temporary funding measure because it did not include a permanent extension to tax credits for Americans who buy health insurance through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.

Referred to as enhanced premium tax credits, they were introduced in 2021 and later extended through the end of 2025 by the Inflation Reduction Act.

They have significantly brought down the cost of health insurance for approximately 22 million low- and middle-income Americans. Additionally, the number of enrollees in ACA marketplace health plans has nearly doubled, according to healthcare outlet KFF.

KFF estimates that if these subsidies expire, premiums for many Americans will more than double.

In the case of individuals making $28,000 a year, 79 percent above the federal poverty line which sits at $15,650, they are currently paying an estimated $325 a year for their health plan.

Without the subsidy, that could rise five-fold to $1,562, according to KFF.

Senate Democrats, led by Chuck Schumer of New York, have refused to pass any funding bill that does not permanently extend these tax credits.

Trump, Vice President JD Vance and many others in the GOP have accused Democrats of wanting to fund healthcare for illegal immigrants.

The Big Beautiful Bill, passed in July, restricted noncitizen eligibility for Medicaid to lawful permanent residents, Cubans and Haitians who entered the US legally and noncitizens from several Pacific islands that are US territories.

The bill removed access from refugees, asylum seekers, people with temporary protected status and over a dozen other types of immigrants with some sort of legal status.

KFF estimates that 1.4 million noncitizen immigrants will lose their healthcare because of this change, and Democrats do want to reverse this with their funding bill.

US law still holds that people living in the country illegally and without any type of legal status are not allowed to take advantage of federal programs, including Medicaid.

No deal has been reached between the parties about this, though Vance has said he’s willing to negotiate with Democrats on the ACA subsidies.

‘But only after they’ve reopened the government,’ Vance said. ‘You can’t reward this exercise in hostage taking, which is what we would be doing if we allow the government opening to be conditional on the Democrats’ policy disagreement.’

The shutdown has stretched into its fourth day, and most on Capitol Hill believe it will last at least until next week, if not longer.