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CNN
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In the strange and volatile world of Washington, statutory funding deadlines are just suggestions, and the threat of a partial government shutdown is ever-present.
Fiscal year 2024 began Oct. 1, but lawmakers have yet to formally pass 12 funding bills that would form the backbone of the government’s discretionary spending, including defense spending.
Unable to reach a final agreement on these larger bills, lawmakers drafted a series of interim bills, or “continuing resolutions” or “CRs” as they are called in the federal lexicon (perhaps in their own dialect). was approved. English.
Journalists often try to translate “continuing resolutions” or “CRs” into plain English by calling them “stopgap” or “short-term” spending bills.
The House and Senate this week passed another short-term extension to parts of the government that President Joe Biden signed into law, giving Congress time to negotiate spending for the next five months.
The latest in a series of deadlines triggered by these extraordinary spending bills is next Friday, March 8th, for some parts of the government and March 22nd for the rest.
Almost every year. Rather than being a special event, ongoing resolutions are annual events.
Since 1977, October 1 has been the official start date of the federal fiscal year. Lawmakers have passed at least one continuing resolution in all but three years for nearly half a century. Since then. According to the Congressional Research Service, the most recent fiscal year in which CRs were not enacted was fiscal year 1997.
So far, it doesn’t seem like lawmakers are trying very hard to pass the bill by the deadline. Federal discretionary spending is to be divided into 12 spending bills. In most years over the past 20 years, lawmakers have not passed a single bill by October 1st. Since 1997, we have not passed half of our spending bills on time in any year.
Instead, they bundle spending bills into larger packages, often called “omnibuses,” that are passed after December. For example, in 1997 there was no CR, but all spending bills were passed together as an omnibus. In 2017, the final bill was enacted after May 1, according to the Comptroller’s Office.
On the one hand, these bills are better than the alternative of a partial government shutdown. Much has been written about how partial shutdowns are inefficient, unnecessary, and destructive.
CR is another type of inefficient and destructive event. Government operations and services will continue, but CR will be effective. GAO has written a detailed report outlining how CR “delays adoption, introduces funding uncertainty, and creates administrative burdens.”
In a year like this year, the impact is further amplified as the patchwork of CRs lasts for much of the year.
The point of Congress approving funding is to provide guidance to the federal government. They add funding to certain programs and subtract funding from others. CR typically does not make these adjustments.
Maya McGuineas, chair of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, wrote in 2018 that “If Congress simply bypasses the normal appropriations process and uses CR, it will waste thousands of hours that agencies spend on budget planning.” It will be,” he testified.
I spoke to CNN’s Tami Luby about how this rickety funding process, and simply relying on last year’s funding levels, could impact how the government delivers services to people. I asked if there was one. She argued that the impact is particularly concentrated on people who rely on government food aid and utility payments, citing examples such as:
Ruby: For example, WIC provides nutritional support and education to low-income pregnant women, new mothers, and young children. $1 billion shortfall For the current financial year. Enrollment jumped to 6.6 million in November, up from just under 6.4 million a year earlier, according to the latest federal data.
According to the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, about 2 million pregnant women, new mothers and children could lose benefits if Congress continues with current funding levels for the rest of the year. .
Many states have already cut federal utility assistance provided to residents who have had to contend with high heating and cooling costs in recent years.Demand for low-income residential energy assistance programs known as reheapElectricity and natural gas delinquencies are at record highs, according to the National Association of Energy Assistance Directors, and these numbers have been increasing since delinquencies exploded in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. They say they have started tracking the numbers.
In recent years, lawmakers have poured billions more into LIHEAP, which typically receives about $4 billion in base funding. However, funding levels for fiscal year 2024 have not yet been set, so states must assume they will receive only the base level. That means cutting the benefits that households receive, cutting the number of people receiving aid, and cutting back on cooling programs.
They are waiting to see whether Congress will provide the $1.6 billion in additional aid the Biden administration requested in October.
Private companies cannot operate this way, the Partnership for Public Services argues, and neither should the federal government. The Partnership for Public Services advocates for good governance and for moving the government funding process to two years rather than annually. Annual schedule.
It’s difficult to foster innovation and security when employees are constantly stopping and starting. Other ideas include automatic CR. It’s like automatic overdraft protection to allow Congress to debate larger spending bills instead of wasting time on one-off bills.
Republicans who control the House and Democrats who control the Senate were in the midst of a funding deal in January that would impose certain funding limits in 2024 and 2025 at the request of spending-sensitive Republicans.
To his credit, House Speaker Mike Johnson, instead of adopting a closed-minded mindset, instead opened up government and eliminated the possibility of a future. Use Democratic votes to pass CR when working out the details of a larger bill.
CNN’s Capitol Hill team noted that the six funding bills that lawmakers are expected to reach an agreement on and pass by March 8 include the departments of Agriculture and FDA. Commerce, Judiciary, and Science. Energy and water development. Interior; Military Construction – Veterans Affairs; Transportation, housing, and urban development.
The remaining six spending bills that lawmakers are scheduled to vote on by March 22 are defense bills. Financial Services and General Government. Homeland Security; Occupational Health and Human Services. Legislature. and national and foreign activities.
There’s optimism that they’ll figure it out – just in time to start raising money next year. There is no need to hold your breath until the 2025 spending bill is completed on time.
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