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Minnesota impact: Government shutdown politics and economics

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Published  October 1, 2025 6:01pm CDT
Politics
FOX 9
Government shutdown impact on Minnesota

Government shutdown impact on Minnesota

FOX 9's Corin Hoggard has the latest details on impact the U.S. Government shutdown is having on Minnesota.

The Brief

    • Disagreements among Minnesota's congressional delegation highlight the impasses in the budget standoff.
    • Republicans want to keep funding the government in line with the big budget bill they passed July 1, using a process Democrats have repeatedly supported in the past. Democrats are using a rare situation where their votes are needed to claw back health insurance tax credits.
    • About 750,000 federal employees are going on furlough and President Trump has threatened to shrink the federal workforce during a shutdown.
    • The last shutdown was 35 days, from December 2018 to January 2019. The Congressional Budget Office says it cost the economy at least $11 billion.

ST. PAUL, Minn. (FOX 9) - A federal government shutdown started at the stroke of midnight as the new month arrived.

A big budget battle is at an impasse and the fight is politically risky for both parties.

This is sort of a rehash of the fight over the big budget bill and both sides are hoping voters in Minnesota won’t hold it against them.

Going dark

First full day of federal government shutdown

First full day of federal government shutdown

FOX 9's Corin Hoggard explains the impact on Minnesotans with the federal government shutdown.

Funding fight:

The lights are out at St. Paul’s Mississippi River Visitor Center as the National Park Service went dark during this government shutdown.

Its employees are among about 750,000 furloughed across the country while Republicans and Democrats can’t agree on funding.

"Their top priority is picking a fight with President Trump and scoring political points with their far left base in the process," said U.S. Rep. Tom Emmer, (R-Minnesota).

"I know there are people in his district who may never vote for me who are facing nearly double health insurance premiums, and they want the federal government to do something about it," said Sen. Tina Smith, (D-Minnesota). 

The health care debate

Costs, direct or indirect:

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office says the average person saved $700 because of federal healthcare subsidies this year.

And they say four million people will drop their insurance because of the increases, leading to even higher premiums in future years.

"A lot of farmers are going to be faced with a choice: Buying a health care insurance policy versus making their loan payment to keep themselves out of foreclosure, or, in some cases, putting food on the table," said Gary Wertish of the Minnesota Farmers Union.

But a permanent extension of those subsidies would cost taxpayers $358 billion over the next decade, according to the CBO.

Who to blame? 

Risks for both:

Political analyst David Schultz says the party in control usually takes the blame for a shutdown, so this may be risky for Republicans, but Democrats are gambling as well.

President Trump has threatened to use the shutdown to permanently shrink the federal government workforce.

But Schultz doesn’t think the pressure is high enough for a quick resolution.

"At some point, something propels them to actually back to the negotiating table," said the Hamline University political science professor. "But here, I just don't see anything."

Economic losses?

Dig deeper:

As for the economy, the last shutdown back in 2018 and 2019 lasted 35 days and the CBO says it cost the country about $11 billion in productivity.

So that’s about $2.2 billion a week.

PoliticsMinnesotaEconomy