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Smithsonian losing $1M a week due to shutdown

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Smithsonian museums are being hit hard by the partial government shutdown.

Since Jan. 2, visitors have been unable to access to the world's largest museum, education and research complex.

The 173-year-old institution says it's been losing about $1 million a week because of the shutdown.

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Smithsonian secretary David Skorton wrote in a USA Today op-ed published Tuesday that the monetary impact is due to restaurants, theaters and other profitable locations in the complex closing down, too.

The Smithsonian did manage to pull together some carry-over funds to stay open an extra 11 days once the shutdown began.

But that ran out, causing them to close as well.