ECONOMY/GOVERNMENT/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Federal contractors still await approval to get back to work now that the partial shutdown is over. — The five-week impasse over $5.7 billion in funding for President Donald Trump’s border wall cost the economy $3 billion. — Asylum seekers will not be allowed access to attorneys during interviews determining whether they should be sent to Mexico..WORKERS, BUSINESS, BORE SHUTDOWN’S BRUNT: The first day back to work for federal employees after the 35-day partial government shutdown wasn’t a first day back for many government contractors. ‘Some waited anxiously for approval from federal agencies to resume their work, while others had to reapply for funding,’ POLITICO’s Ian Kullgren reports. Federal contract officers are buried under a backlog of invoices, so contractors may have to wait several days more before they get paid. Federal workers and small businesses felt the ‘largest and most direct negative effects,’ the Congressional Budget Office reported, from going without pay and not being able to obtain federal permits and loans. ‘Some of those private-sector entities will never recoup that lost income,’ the report said.”
–Rebecca Rainey, “Shutdown cost economy more than half Trump’s border wall ask,” Politico, January 29, 2019 10:00 am