• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. dysfunction>

Congress is still working on government spending three months after the deadline ... again

David Meyers
https://twitter.com/davidmeyers?lang=en
December 12, 2022
Sen. Patrick Leahy and Sen. Richard Shelby

Chairman Patrick Leahy (left) and ranking members Richard Shelby lead the Senate Appropriations Committee.

Caroline Brehman-Pool/Getty Images

While the elections may seem like an end to a cycle of policymaking before a new Congress gets sworn in, the reality is that lawmakers are still trying to work their way through important legislation before the end of the year.

The biggest item on the agenda is a bill to fund the federal government and avoid a shutdown – an issue that was supposed to have been resolved before October but has slid into the holiday season.

In fact, in the past five decades, Congress has only completed the appropriations process on schedule three times.


If the system was working properly, the House and Senate Appropriations committees would develop 12 spending bills in line with the jurisdictions of their subcommittees. The chambers would then pass those twelve bills and resolve any differences before the government’s new fiscal year begins Oct. 1. That virtually never happens.

“The failure of Congress to pass individual appropriations spending bills is the result of the overall Congressional budget process being broken and routinely ignored,” said Michael Murphy, chief of staff for the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, who explained that the breakdown in appropriating is one piece of a dysfunctional budget process.

The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 set a timeline that begins with the president introducing a budget on the first Monday in February, continuing through congressional passage of a budget by mid April and then the Appropriations committees completing their work by June 30, in time for the new fiscal year starting three months later.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

This year, the House of Representatives passed six spending bills but the Senate did not pass any, meaning all twelve must be rolled into one massive bill known as an “omnibus.” In most years, even the omnibus is not passed by the end of the fiscal year. Instead, the lawmakers pass one or more “continuing resolutions” that extend funding temporarily while they work on the final bill or bills.

The government is currently operating under a continuing resolution that expires Dec. 15. Lawmakers have been negotiating a spending bill for the rest of the year but will likely require another CR to buy more time. Leaders may try to attach other priority legislation to the omnibus, such as a bill to reform how Congress counts electoral votes, in order to get a few more things done before the end of the year.

“Congress has not passed a real concurrent budget resolution since 2015, and has only passed all individual appropriations bills on time by the end of the fiscal year four times in the last 50 years,” Murphy said. “Polarization of Congress and the fact that Congress seems to act only upon a crisis deadline has contributed to this reality.”

The breakdown in the process results in a lack of government transparency and proper planning, according to Murphy.

“As a result, we continue to shirk responsibility for weighing the tradeoffs inherent in effectively managing the finances and programs of the federal government,” he explained. “The use of one or more CRs is problematic for government agencies who are unable to effectively plan for their programs given the constant uncertainty surrounding their funding levels.”

Many spending cycles begin with congressional leaders and Appropriations chairs announcing an intent to follow the process and pass the discretionary spending bills by the start of the fiscal year. However, that almost never happens. (“Discretionary” spending is that which Congress can set each year. “Mandatory” spending – such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid” – is required by other laws.)

Congress has only avoided the use of continuing resolutions three times since fiscal 1977, according to the Congressional Research Service. Often, the CR lasts until December, but Congress may use more than one and there have been occasionals when continuing resolutions have been needed into late winter and even the spring.

Returning to regular order requires a commitment from congressional leadership, Murphy said.

“Congress needs a sufficient number of leaders in both parties who will stand up and call for going back to basics, which includes coming up with an actual budget and passing it in both chambers by the required deadline of April 15 to begin the budget process,” he said. “At the same time, recognizing the process has failed to work for years, we need to undertake comprehensive budget process reforms that result in a more accountable and transparent process that can achieve fiscally responsible outcomes.”

From Your Site Articles
  • Americans have negative views of all three branches of government ›
  • Elections legislation has no place in end-of-year congressional agenda ›
  • The broken budget process is a democracy reform issue ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Spending Bill Survives Senate Test, Staving Off Government ... ›
  • Senate advances spending bill to avoid partial government shutdown ›
  • A government funding bill is introduced as Congress races to avoid ... ›
dysfunction

Join an Upcoming Event

Oregon STAR Voting Monthly Meeting

Equal Vote
Feb 07, 2023 at 6:00 pm PDT
Read More

Elijah E. Cummings Democracy and Freedom Festival 2023

Agora Institute
Feb 08, 2023 at 12:00 am CST
Read More

The State of Faith: Faith’s Role in the Future of Ameri

Mormon Women for Ethical Government
Feb 08, 2023 at 10:00 am CST
Read More

STAR Voting Oregon Chapter Meeting

Equal Vote
Feb 08, 2023 at 6:00 pm CDT
Read More

Conversation with Sir Lindsay Hoyle

USC Center for the Political Future
Feb 14, 2023 at 3:30 pm PST
Read More

Democracy Happy Hour

Fix Democracy First
Feb 15, 2023 at 5:00 pm PDT
Read More
View All Events

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Follow
Contributors

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber

Congress’ fix to presidential votes lights the way for broader election reform

Kevin Johnson

Democrats and Republicans want the status quo, but we need to move Forward

Christine Todd Whitman

Reform in 2023: Building a beacon of hope in Boston

Henry Santana
Jerren Chang
latest News

Your Take: Religious beliefs

Our Staff
03 February

Remembering the four chaplains eighty years later

Rabbi Charles Savenor
03 February

Podcast: Anti-racism: The pro-human approach

Our Staff
03 February

Ron DeSantis and the rise of political racism

Lawrence Goldstone
02 February

Curriculum regulations and book bans: Modern day anti-literacy laws?

Katherine Kapustka
02 February

Podcast: 2024 Senate: Democrats have a lot of defending to do

Our Staff
02 February
Videos

Video: The dignity index

Our Staff

Video: The Supreme Court and originalism

Our Staff

Video: How the baby boom changed American politics

Our Staff

Video: What the speakership election tells us about the 118th Congress webinar

Our Staff

Video: We need more bipartisan commitment to democracy: Pennsylvania governor

Our Staff

Video: Meet the citizen activists championing primary reform

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: Anti-racism: The pro-human approach

Our Staff
03 February

Podcast: 2024 Senate: Democrats have a lot of defending to do

Our Staff
02 February

Podcast: Collage: The promise of Black History Month

Our Staff
01 February

Podcast: Separating news from noise

Our Staff
30 January
Recommended
Your Take: Religious beliefs

Your Take: Religious beliefs

Your Take
Remembering the four chaplains eighty years later

Remembering the four chaplains eighty years later

Civic Ed
Podcast: Anti-racism: The pro-human approach

Podcast: Anti-racism: The pro-human approach

Podcasts
Video: The dignity index

Video: The dignity index

Ron DeSantis and the rise of political racism

Ron DeSantis and the rise of political racism

Big Picture
Curriculum regulations and book bans: Modern day anti-literacy laws?

Curriculum regulations and book bans: Modern day anti-literacy laws?

Big Picture