The shutdown 'accomplished nothing and caused significant harm' to many people, budget watchdog says, giving 'new meaning to fiscal irresponsibility'

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) issued a scathing indictment on Wednesday following the reported end of America’s longest government shutdown. Maya MacGuineas, president of the CRFB, said the political stalemate “accomplished nothing and caused significant harm to many individuals, not to mention our reputation around the world.”

MacGuineas, leader of a bipartisan budget watchdog, had a bipartisan rebuke for Congress. “Policymakers gave new meaning to fiscal irresponsibility,” she said, since the previous standoff was over a deficit-busting $1.5 trillion in health-care subsidies and the current reopening package locks in what the CRFB calculates as $3.4 trillion of new borrowing by wiping the Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO) scorecard, a favorite policy of the CRFB.

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