When Washington Shuts Down, Millions of Americans including Small Businesses Pay the Price

As a small-business owner who built a company, AvantGarde, from the ground up, I’ve lived through more than my share of shutdowns.  None has been as devastating as this one. Behind every frozen invoice or stopped contract is a person, a family, a livelihood. At AvantGarde, our people serve 15 different federal agencies in HR, IT, and organizational strategy roles. They show up with pride and professionalism every day - even when Washington doesn’t.

When the government shuts down, Congress still gets paid, and federal workers are legally entitled to receive back pay. But small businesses like AG and the thousands we employ as federal contractors? We don’t. Once paychecks are missed due to this shutdown, income that should benefit the wallets and pocketbooks of hard-working Americans is gone for good.

The numbers tell the story: at least one million contractor employees across the country have been laid off or furloughed (Washington Technology / Professional Services Council). Small-businesses like AvantGarde and owners like me and my DC-based partner Greg are left scrambling to cover payroll, rent, and benefits while invoices for completed work from prior periods sit unpaid because no one is there to process them.

At AvantGarde, our employees have already lost more than half a million dollars in wages – income they’ll never recover. One of our team members, a senior citizen whose husband was laid off four months ago, is now the sole provider for her family while also caring for her severely ill, aging brother. A missed paycheck means an empty fridge and agonizing choices about which bills she can cover — the mortgage, the car payment, or groceries. Another employee, a single mother, is stretching every dollar to keep her kids in daycare and food on the table. None of them care about politics or which party is to blame — they just need their family finances restored with the stability that comes with being able to work.

My business partner, Greg, and I are doing everything we can to make up for what Washington won’t. After hearing the urgent needs of our employees, we mobilized quickly to create a financial lifeline — offering zero-interest loans from our own pockets to help bridge the gap left by a government that isn’t living up to its commitments.

This month, with Thanksgiving around the corner, we took an extra step and provided full holiday meals to employees in need. Many of our team members who are still working — about half of our workforce — also stepped up, donating grocery gift cards, money, and even PTO hours from their own vacation time to support colleagues who are furloughed. Nearly 50 percent of our team remains on leave without pay or with significantly reduced hours.

As CEO, I couldn’t be prouder of the AvantGarde family — people who don’t wait for Congress to do its job but instead take care of one another. Still, the reality is that small businesses shouldn’t have to shoulder this burden alone. The federal government has a contractual and financial obligation to thousands of companies like mine, and when it fails to uphold that commitment, employees and their families suffer. Patchwork measures like the ones taken by Greg and me are not sustainable — and it’s not fair to employees who inevitably slip through the cracks.

We’ve worked hard to build a company that employs more than a hundred hardworking Americans and to run it with strong and responsible fiduciary practices. Yet all of that is now put at risk. With cash flow dwindling and invoices for work already completed going unpaid, we project that this shutdown could result in millions of dollars in lost revenue that we will never recover.

Small businesses like AvantGarde are the backbone of America’s economy. They employ nearly half of the private workforce and generate about 43 percent of the nation’s GDP. Firms with fewer than 500 employees create over 70 percent of new jobs in this country (Small Business Association). But when Washington stalls, our growth engine grinds to a halt.

Each week of this shutdown means billions in delayed contracts, missed paychecks, and lost productivity. In Washington, that might look like paid time off. On Main Street, it looks like layoffs, hiring freezes, and canceled projects. Every day this shutdown drags on, small businesses lose ground we may never fully recover.

This isn’t a partisan issue. It’s a paycheck issue. It’s a grocery-bill issue. It’s about the people who help keep our country running.

Small businesses like AvantGarde need predictability, not posturing. If lawmakers truly want to serve the American people, they should stop grandstanding on television, stay in the negotiating room, and work for the American people until they come to a bipartisan solution to get the government back open.  Every moment of inaction means more layoffs, lower productivity, and lasting damage to the backbone of America’s workforce.

My call to Members of Congress is simple: Show that you care about the people this shutdown is hurting. Do your jobs. Pass a budget. Get the federal government back up and running. Human lives depend on it. Small businesses depend on it. America depends on it.

To learn more about AG’s story, capabilities, and experience, visit avantgarde4usa.com and follow us on LinkedIn and Facebook.