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Washington, D.C.—The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) report released today on the 16-day government shutdown outlines the economic, budgetary and programmatic costs of the government shutdown, demonstrating the severe and needless damage done by Congress’ inability to perform its most basic duties, the leader of the nation’s largest independent union of federal employees said.

“This report on the politically-driven government shutdown outlines the broad damage done to our country, hurting everyone from business owners seeking loans to patients in need of life-saving drugs,” said President Colleen M. Kelley of the National Treasury Employees Union (NTEU).

A case in point: The report notes that two weeks into the shutdown, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) had an inventory of 1.2 million verification requests that could not be processed, potentially delaying approval of mortgages and other loans. Also delayed was $4 billion in tax refunds that the IRS was unable to send out.

Shutting down the IRS needlessly hurt individuals, the economy and the deficit, President Kelley said. For 16 days, most IRS enforcement activities were halted. The IRS normally collects about $1 billion per week.

The report also covered the impact on services provided by other NTEU-represented agencies.

The national parks normally welcome an average of 715,000 visitors a day during October, spending an average of $33 million a day benefitting local communities surrounding the parks. The National Park Service estimates the shutdown led to over $500 million in lost visitor spending nationwide.

Meanwhile, at the Food and Drug Administration, no new applications for drugs or medical devices could be accepted, processed or reviewed. The report also states that the FDA had to delay nearly 500 food and feed domestic inspections and roughly 355 food safety inspections under state contracts.

And, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) halted inspections at about 1,200 sites including hazardous waste facilities, chemical facilities and drinking water systems.

OMB officials noted that the shutdown could have a long-term impact on our ability to attract and retain the skilled and driven workforce that the federal government needs. The report states that while federal workers were eventually paid “the burden of delayed paychecks on federal workers and their families was significant and harmful.”

The shutdown furloughs followed an “unprecedented three year pay freeze for federal employees, and, for hundreds of thousands of workers administrative furloughs earlier this year, caused by sequestration,” the report said.

“For federal workers, the shutdown comes on top of the pay freeze, increased pension contributions for new hires and unpaid furloughs and expanded workloads due to sequestration,” President Kelley said.

She added: “Those who used federal employees as political pawns and shut down the government to try and score political points need to be held accountable, and responsible members of Congress need to make sure it does not happen again.”

NTEU is the nation’s largest independent federal union, representing 150,000 employees in 31 agencies and departments.