Congress is currently in recess and a well-known U.S. Senator is touring Iowa. Sen. Rand Paul is using some of the stops to talk about big American issues, like the government shutdown last fall.

For two weeks in October, the federal government was closed for business as lawmakers debated the budget. Sen. Paul voted against the budget deals that led to the shutdown, but he said he thought shutting down the government was a “bad idea.” The republican claimed:

    "It cost us more to shut the government down than to keep it open.”

PolitiFact decided to examine that claim. Writer Joshua Gillin said it rates TRUE. Gillin said, it’s all about the numbers.

“When you're talking about third parties that the government owes money, well, they're not getting paid,” Gillin said. “So, you have to pay them and pay late fees.”

And that’s not all. During that two week period, several federally funded spots were closed to visitors. Some estimates point to $500 million lost in visitor spending because National Parks were closed. Gillin said, it extended to other government business, too.

“Services like EPA inspections or FDA inspections or the IRS was closed, so people couldn't get loans. And it cost the GDP a lot of money because the IRS couldn't give loans for identity verification,” Gillin said.

Many research groups say that because of the shutdown, the government had to pay all of what it normally would have spent during that two-week period and then some. Because of those facts, PolitiFact rated Sen. Paul’s claim TRUE.

SOURCES: THE COSTS OF THE FEDERAL SHUTDOWN