The two-week-old federal government shutdown is costing the US economy about US$15 billion a day in lost output, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said on Wednesday, putting an estimate on its economic toll and urging Democrats to “be heroes” and side with Republicans to end it.

Bessent told a news conference that the shutdown was starting to “cut into muscle” of the US economy.

“We believe that the shutdown may start costing the US economy up to US$15 billion a day,” he said.

The wave of investment into the US economy, including into artificial intelligence, is sustainable and is only getting started, but the federal government shutdown is increasingly an impediment, Bessent said.

“There is pent-up demand, but then President [Donald] Trump has unleashed this boom with his policies,” Bessent said at a CNBC event held on the sidelines of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings in Washington.

“The only thing slowing us down here is this government shutdown,” Bessent said.