The government shutdown’s impact is spreading through the economy

“The shutdown is stifling our ability to grow,” said Grant Richardson, who founded a wine import company, Pangea Selections, in 2019.

Richardson can’t close on a six-figure Small Business Administration loan while the federal government is shut down, but the impasse hasn’t given him a break on the roughly $20,000 in tariffs that he expects to fork over this month.

The entrepreneur from Austin, Texas, is still waiting to receive roughly $10,000 in business tax credits for the quarter. And he can’t seal a deal with a California winemaker to launch a new product line because the government is not approving new labels for bottles during the funding lapse.

Grant Richardson cannot close on a Small Business Administration loan for his wine import company because of the government shutdown.