Axios Live: News Shapers event covers government shutdown, economic outlook and more

WASHINGTON – Rep. James Walkinshaw (D-Va.) predicted the government shutdown would be over by the end of this month, he told Axios at a News Shapers event on Oct. 15.

Why it matters: As the government shutdown drags on, tensions are boiling on Capitol Hill among lawmakers struggling to reach an agreement to reopen operations.

Axios' Hans Nichols and Neil Irwin spoke with Walkinshaw and White House Economic Council director Kevin Hassett at the event. It was sponsored by Bank of America.

Driving the news: "I guess if I had to give an over/under [guess], I would say 30 days, which would be the end of this month," Walkinshaw said.

• Nov. 1 begins open enrollment for the Affordable Care Act, when people elect their health care coverage for the next year. "I think that could be a forcing function," Walkinshaw said.

Zoom out: This government shutdown "feels different" than previous shutdowns, he said.

• "In our region, in the D.C. region and in northern Virginia, I think it feels different because it comes on the heels of nine months where, from my perspective and a lot of my constituents' perspectives, the Trump administration has been shutting down much of the federal government anyway," Walkinshaw said, referring to the mass layoffs of federal employees.

State of play: "The economic harm is real now, it's a couple weeks in, the CEA estimated that it would cost about a tenth of a percent of GDP a week for a shutdown," Hassett said.

• "The costs are real, and the president and Republicans are adamant that we just get the government open," Hassett said.

Content from the sponsored segment:

In a View From the Top conversation, Claudio Irigoyen, Bank of America's head of global economics research, spoke about the economic and workforce effects of the government shutdown.

• "Usually one week of shutdown costs you about one-tenth of GDP growth, usually shutdowns have been relatively short, and usually what happens is at the end of the shutdown when you restore activities, you pay retroactively … so at the end, the net effect is not significant," Irigoyen said.
• "The issue this time that could be different is if you have significant layoffs, permanent layoffs."