It's a little reported phenomenon, but Congress is on track to pass the appropriations bills for over 90% of federal spending for fiscal year 2019 by the end of September. It's hardly the type of news that gets trumpeted on the cable networks, but this is a key development and a major accomplishment.
Let's look at what this means.
1. For most of the last century, federal spending was set in three pieces. First, Congress passed a budget. Second, Congress passed authorization bills which listed in general what would be spent in each department or agency. Third, Congress passed specific appropriations which gave final detail and the go-ahead for the government to do its spending. These bills were to be passed prior to the start of the fiscal year (October 1) so that spending levels were set without further question. In the event that one or another spending bill got delayed, Congress would pass a resolution to authorize spending at the level of the prior year until the final bills were passed. These resolutions are called continuing resolutions.
2. In the late 1980s, Congress recognized that there was inflation in the country which was requiring higher spending each year in order just to meet the level of the prior year's expenditures. As a result, Congress passed a measure that provided that were a continuing resolution used, spending would not be at the level of the prior year, but rather at 107% of the level of the prior year.
3. In 2006, the Democrats took control of both houses of Congress and began to obstruct passage of most appropriations bills. That led to the start of using continuing resolutions for the government as a whole. It was no longer a few agencies that were unfunded; it was the entire government. By doing this, the Dems got their 7% spending increase each year without having to fight over specific bills. The choice was to raise spending by 7% or shut down all funding for the government.
4. When Obama became president, there was some move back towards appropriations bills. The so called Stimulus Bill was a huge appropriation that got a separate vote. By 2010, however, the Dems went back to using continuing resolutions. In this way, more and more got spent without there being any need to authorize specific spending. There was no focus on the details; the whole budget got passed in one three page bill.
5. The GOP took back the House in 2010. At first, the Republicans were able to strip particular spending out of the bloated budget. They actually did this by adding riders to the continuing resolutions that cut particular spending from the total. The Dems, however, still stuck to the practice of using continuing resolutions in order to get the automatic increases they provided.
6. After two years of spending fights, the Republicans decided to refuse to go ahead with the ever increasing spending. The result was a government shutdown together with the compromise settlement called the Sequester. This froze domestic and military spending so that there was no annual increase. The government shutdown, however, proved to be a potent weapon to be used against the party that caused it.
7. In 2016, the GOP finally won both houses of Congress and the presidency. There was an attempt to pass legislation for the fiscal years that followed, but because of the Sequester, there was a major stalemate. Finally, last year, that stalemate was broken.
8. This upcoming fiscal year, 2019, is the first one for which the overwhelming majority of spending will go back to being done as it is supposed to be done. There will be no continuing resolution; over 90% of spending will be in place before the start of the fiscal year.
9. Think about this. Once the new fiscal year starts, there will be no threat of a government shutdown because nearly all the spending will already be in place. The Democrats won't be able to hold the rest of the government spending hostage in order to get their way.
10. One area for which there has not yet been spending approved is the border wall. Just imagine that debate taking place when the Democrats can't threaten to cut off Social Security payments or military salaries in order to get their way on the wall.
11. There are other key spending items that will have to be decided on their own merits rather than on threats of shutting down the government.
Of course, if the Dems take back the House in November, they can go right back to their old method of just not passing the spending bills. That will bring us right back to where we were. If the GOP holds the House (and the Senate, of course) this year, then the return to the traditional spending paradigm will continue.
Another major benefit of voting on traditional appropriations measures is that specific programs which are wasteful or otherwise a failure can be cut from the budget. Congress can once again oversee spending to a certain extent. This alone ought to save us all billions of dollars each year.
All things considered, this is a major accomplishment of which the Republicans in Congress should be proud.
Let's look at what this means.
1. For most of the last century, federal spending was set in three pieces. First, Congress passed a budget. Second, Congress passed authorization bills which listed in general what would be spent in each department or agency. Third, Congress passed specific appropriations which gave final detail and the go-ahead for the government to do its spending. These bills were to be passed prior to the start of the fiscal year (October 1) so that spending levels were set without further question. In the event that one or another spending bill got delayed, Congress would pass a resolution to authorize spending at the level of the prior year until the final bills were passed. These resolutions are called continuing resolutions.
2. In the late 1980s, Congress recognized that there was inflation in the country which was requiring higher spending each year in order just to meet the level of the prior year's expenditures. As a result, Congress passed a measure that provided that were a continuing resolution used, spending would not be at the level of the prior year, but rather at 107% of the level of the prior year.
3. In 2006, the Democrats took control of both houses of Congress and began to obstruct passage of most appropriations bills. That led to the start of using continuing resolutions for the government as a whole. It was no longer a few agencies that were unfunded; it was the entire government. By doing this, the Dems got their 7% spending increase each year without having to fight over specific bills. The choice was to raise spending by 7% or shut down all funding for the government.
4. When Obama became president, there was some move back towards appropriations bills. The so called Stimulus Bill was a huge appropriation that got a separate vote. By 2010, however, the Dems went back to using continuing resolutions. In this way, more and more got spent without there being any need to authorize specific spending. There was no focus on the details; the whole budget got passed in one three page bill.
5. The GOP took back the House in 2010. At first, the Republicans were able to strip particular spending out of the bloated budget. They actually did this by adding riders to the continuing resolutions that cut particular spending from the total. The Dems, however, still stuck to the practice of using continuing resolutions in order to get the automatic increases they provided.
6. After two years of spending fights, the Republicans decided to refuse to go ahead with the ever increasing spending. The result was a government shutdown together with the compromise settlement called the Sequester. This froze domestic and military spending so that there was no annual increase. The government shutdown, however, proved to be a potent weapon to be used against the party that caused it.
7. In 2016, the GOP finally won both houses of Congress and the presidency. There was an attempt to pass legislation for the fiscal years that followed, but because of the Sequester, there was a major stalemate. Finally, last year, that stalemate was broken.
8. This upcoming fiscal year, 2019, is the first one for which the overwhelming majority of spending will go back to being done as it is supposed to be done. There will be no continuing resolution; over 90% of spending will be in place before the start of the fiscal year.
9. Think about this. Once the new fiscal year starts, there will be no threat of a government shutdown because nearly all the spending will already be in place. The Democrats won't be able to hold the rest of the government spending hostage in order to get their way.
10. One area for which there has not yet been spending approved is the border wall. Just imagine that debate taking place when the Democrats can't threaten to cut off Social Security payments or military salaries in order to get their way on the wall.
11. There are other key spending items that will have to be decided on their own merits rather than on threats of shutting down the government.
Of course, if the Dems take back the House in November, they can go right back to their old method of just not passing the spending bills. That will bring us right back to where we were. If the GOP holds the House (and the Senate, of course) this year, then the return to the traditional spending paradigm will continue.
Another major benefit of voting on traditional appropriations measures is that specific programs which are wasteful or otherwise a failure can be cut from the budget. Congress can once again oversee spending to a certain extent. This alone ought to save us all billions of dollars each year.
All things considered, this is a major accomplishment of which the Republicans in Congress should be proud.
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