Hundreds of thousands of federal government employees are being furloughed or working without pay during the ongoing government shutdown. Core functions, including many food and drug inspections, are suspended because Republicans and Democrats remain deadlocked on funding the government.
Meanwhile, the government continues to rake in record levels of tariff revenue, which President Donald Trump frequently brags about.
Those tens of billions of dollars are a drop in the bucket compared to what it takes to fund the government, but they could soften the blow from the shutdown – at least temporarily – while lawmakers remain at odds.
Last month, the Treasury Department