The 35-day partial government shutdown took a toll on small businesses’ bottom lines, with 37 percent saying it harmed their firms, according to a CNBC and SurveyMonkey poll released Feb. 11.
Of the 2,200 small business owners polled, 13 percent said they lost a contract with a federal agency during the shutdown, and 10 percent said they lost access to loans from the Small Business Administration. Others noted a drop-off in business.
The poll, conducted shortly after the agreement was made to re-open the government, comes just as the next government shutdown is looming. About one-fourth of the government remains without a FY2019 appropriations authorization, requiring President Donald Trump to agree on spending legislation to keep it open beyond Feb. 15.
The unfunded parts of federal government include U.S. Environmental Protection Agency site inspections, refunds and audits by the Internal Revenue Service, the U.S. Department of Labor, and the Small Business Administration.
One-fifth of respondents in the CNBC/SurveyMonkey poll said they had “major” concerns about another shutdown, while 53 percent said a recession was “very” or “somewhat likely.”
