“The shutdown is stifling our ability to grow,” said Grant Richardson, who founded a wine import company, Pangea Selections, in 2019.

Richardson can’t close on a six-figure Small Business Administration loan while the federal government is shut down, but the impasse hasn’t given him a break on the roughly $20,000 in tariffs that he expects to fork over this month.

The entrepreneur from Austin, Texas, is still waiting to receive roughly $10,000 in business tax credits for the quarter. And he can’t seal a deal with a California winemaker to launch a new product line because the government is not approving new labels for bottles during the funding lapse.

“The government is still taking money from us, but it’s not paying out what it owes,” he said, referring to the tax credits.

The shutdown has frozen many of the government’s key functions, such as lending and processing tax credits. And now without pay, hundreds of thousands of federal workers across the country have pulled back on spending, creating economic ripple effects.

From restaurants in Washington, DC, to businesses around national parks, the shutdown’s impact is spreading through the US economy, with no relief in sight.

Sean Han, chef manager at Market to Market, a cafeteria at the Ronald Reagan Building in Washington, said foot traffic has declined about 20% to 30% since the government shutdown began — during a year that has already been tough because of mass federal layoffs.

The business hasn’t reduced employees’ hours yet, he said, but that could happen — in addition to the possibility of layoffs — if the shutdown drags on for longer. With fewer customers, Han said he directed workers to focus on giving whoever comes in a better dining experience.

“We’ve been around for about 20 years, so we’ve seen this before,” Han said. “But it took us nine months to recover after the pandemic and we’ll have to rebuild again once this ends.”

Restaurant reservations in Washington were down 9% last week compared to the same week a year earlier, according to data from OpenTable.