In , certain activities were discontinued, including verifying benefits and providing new and replacement cards, but processing of benefit applications or address changes continued.
During the shutdown, the Department of Agriculture had to rely on a special authority included in the previous CR to allow them to continue to issue SNAP benefits. The hours-long lapse in appropriations in February , though sometimes characterized as a shutdown, did not result in federal employee furloughs.
However, before , the government did not shut down but rather continued normal operations through six funding gaps. Since , 10 funding gaps of three days or fewer have occurred, mostly over a weekend when government operations were only minimally affected. The first two happened in the winter of when President Bill Clinton and the Republican Congress were unable to agree on spending levels and the government shut down twice, for a total of 26 days.
The fourth shutdown, starting in December and continuing into January , centered on a dispute over border wall funding and was the longest-lasting shutdown at 35 days. While estimates vary widely, evidence suggests that shutdowns tend to cost, not save, money for a number of reasons. For one, putting contingency plans in place has a real cost. In addition, many user fees and other charges are not collected during a shutdown, and federal contractors sometimes include premiums in their bids to account for uncertainty in being paid.
While many federal employees are forced to be idle during a shutdown, they have historically received and are now guaranteed back pay, negating much of those potential savings. Shutdowns also carry a cost to the economy. On top of that effect, CBO notes that longer shutdowns negatively affect private-sector investment and hiring decisions as businesses cannot obtain federal permits and certifications, or access federal loans.
Theoretically, the House and Senate Appropriations committees are supposed to pass 12 different appropriations bills that are broken up by subject area and based on funding levels allocated in a budget resolution.
To avoid a shutdown, Congress would need to pass all 12 appropriations bills through both chambers and get them signed by the President before October 1. This could be done by enacting each bill individually or by packaging them together through an omnibus or minibus. On September 21, the House passed a continuing resolution that would extend current funding levels through December 3 and suspend the debt limit until near the end of Senate action is uncertain, however, due to the lack of needed Republican support for raising the debt limit under regular Senate rules as well as specific funding disagreements, including appropriations for the Iron Dome missile defense system in Israel.
For more about the status of specific appropriations bills, see Appropriations Watch: FY A continuing resolution temporarily funds the government in the absence of full appropriations bills, often by continuing funding levels from the prior year. Traditionally, CRs have been used to give lawmakers a short period of time to complete their work on remaining appropriations bills while keeping the government open. CRs sometimes apply to only a few categories of spending, but they can also be used to fund all discretionary functions and can be used for an entire year.
Even when overall funding levels have differed, lawmakers have often simply scaled up all accounts by a percent change in spending rather than making individual decisions on spending accounts. Congress frequently passes CRs when lawmakers are unable to agree on appropriations before a deadline, and occasionally multiple CRs are necessary to fund the government for an entire fiscal year.
Congress also sometimes relies on CRs during presidential transition years. In FY , for example, a series of intense congressional negotiations leading up to the election led to a series of 10 one-day CRs. In total, Congress funded the first three months of that fiscal year with 21 continuing resolutions. In fiscal years , , , , , and , CRs were used to fund the government for roughly a quarter of each year.
FY funding negotiations necessitated three CRs before the passage of an omnibus appropriations bill in May , and FY negotiations required five CRs before the passage of an omnibus in March In FY , a CR was used for seven of the 12 appropriations bills for more than one-third of the year before the enactment of an omnibus in February , while the remaining five appropriations bills were funded before the fiscal year began.
The most recent year when a full-year appropriations bill passed before the fiscal year began and no CRs were necessary was FY Finally, the use of continuing resolutions disrupts activities within agencies, makes it difficult to plan or start future projects, and costs staff time to revise work plans every time the budget changes.
Although Congress has not yet enacted any appropriations bills as of mid-September, the House has passed nine out of 12 appropriations bills. The full Senate has not yet taken any action on appropriations for FY , despite the Senate Appropriations Committee reporting out three of its bills. Subscribe for our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox. More from Reuters.
Sign up for our newsletter Subscribe for our daily curated newsletter to receive the latest exclusive Reuters coverage delivered to your inbox. Sign up. Congress risks government shutdown as senators threaten to hold up funding bill. Trump makes new bid to block records from Capitol riot probe before Friday deadline. Moderna says Covid vaccine has fewer breakthrough cases than Pfizer's, but higher myocarditis rates. Want to sound more confident?
Avoid these 11 words and phrases that make you look weak: Grammar experts. More In Government Shutdown. House votes to fund government for a week amid rush to strike spending, Covid deals. Congress returns facing shutdown deadline, calls for coronavirus stimulus.
Trump signs bill to prevent government shutdown after funding briefly lapses. House passes spending bill to avoid government shutdown, sends it to Senate. House Democrats to unveil bill to avoid shutdown, but McConnell criticizes it. Mnuchin expects Congress will extend government funding into December. Invest in You: Ready.
CNBC Travel.
0コメント