On Friday, Congress announced a partial government shutdown for the fifth time in seven months. About 12 hours before the midnight deadline to fully fund the government, the government will send the bill to the Senate for a vote Friday night.
If the deadline is missed, a partial government shutdown could affect tax filing dates and federal student aid, which could cause airport delays and disrupt U.S. border operations.
If you've felt like you've been constantly hearing about the possibility of a government shutdown in recent months, you don't have any imagination. Let's take a closer look at why it keeps happening.
💵 Why does this happen in the US?
Let's start with the basics.
The U.S. government was shut down when Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti under the Carter administration announced a stricter interpretation of the Anti-Scarcity Act of 1884, essentially “no budget, no spending.”
Creating the federal budget requires calculating how much money the government can spend in the next fiscal year, which begins on October 1st. It is then approved by the president.
There are two types of expenditures in the federal budget: .
compulsory expenditure It accounts for about two-thirds of all federal spending. This includes programs such as Social Security, Medicare for the disabled and elderly, and Medicaid for low-income people. Congress does not have to approve mandatory spending and it essentially runs on autopilot.
discretionary spending These days, it accounts for just over a quarter of all federal spending. Each year, Congress must decide how to allocate a portion of federal spending, known as the appropriations process. Congress includes everything from the Department of Defense to the Food and Drug Administration.
Therefore, Congress must pass 12 separate funding bills (also known as appropriations bills) for each fiscal year starting Oct. 1 to fund defense, education, transportation programs, and more.
Congress typically bundles 12 spending bills into a package called a large omnibus bill.
🕛 What happens if these funding bills are not passed by the deadline?
If a spending bill is not passed by a specified deadline, Congress can pass a short-term bill, formally known as a continuing resolution (CR). This will temporarily extend funding and buy more time for the appropriation process.
But if short-term legislation is not passed, the government could be shut down. If Congress had already approved some, but not all, of the 12 spending bills, a partial government shutdown would occur.
🔎 What happens when the government shuts down and how are people affected?
Each government agency has its own procedures in case of a government shutdown. Governments typically suspend most non-essential activities that are eligible for discretionary funding. This means national parks will be closed, air travel will be disrupted as air traffic controllers and TSA officers will have to report to work without pay, passport renewals will be put on hold, and tax refunds may be delayed. do.
Services deemed essential under discretionary funding will continue. These roles primarily involve safety, such as air traffic control, food safety inspections, and law enforcement. However, employees performing these essential services will be forced to work without pay. If Congress funds the government and concludes a government shutdown, federal employees will receive back pay, but federal subcontracted workers employed by third parties likely will not.
🔄 Why do we always seem to be on the brink of a government shutdown?
A government shutdown is more likely to occur when the House and Senate are controlled by opposing parties, or when one party controls Congress and the president is a member of the other party. Threats of government shutdowns have come up frequently in budget negotiations.
Short-term expenditure claims often last only a few weeks or months, so there is no shortage of opportunities for parties to get stuck. Since September, there have been five threats of partial government shutdowns.
This sense of déjà vu may also have something to do with the recent unusual approach to CR.
Last November, House Speaker Mike Johnson proposed that instead of one deadline for one large funding bill, this approach would have a series of funding deadlines. If these are not met, government offices will close at different times rather than all at the same time.
In November, 12 government-funded departments were split into two. That created a January deadline to fund veterans' issues, transportation, housing, energy and more, and another February deadline for the rest of government programs.
Then, in January, new deadlines were set: March 1 and March 8. As a result, the House and Senate passed a $460 billion bill consisting of six (out of 12) government funding bills, which President Biden signed into law in March. 9. Reach the halfway point in Congress' appropriations work for the fiscal year 2024.
This brings the deadline to March 22nd. If the Senate passes the $1.2 trillion package of six remaining spending bills by the midnight deadline, the government will be funded through the end of the fiscal year. This will end the seemingly endless cycle of intergovernmental conflict, at least until September of this year.
