The federal government's fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, and between now and then, the worthies in Congress are supposed to finish their work on bills that will keep the federal system running through the next year.
At least that's how things work in the textbooks. In reality, the last time Congress got all of its spending bills approved on time, and the president signed them into law was in 1996.
And there's no reason to believe that very long string of missed deadlines will end this year. If anything, there's a real possibility there will be a government shutdown before the appropriations work is done. As Axios reported, Republican factions and their competing spending aims are behind it all:
House conservatives oppose the use of an “omnibus” to package all 12 must-pass appropriations bills together — but lawmakers are pessimistic about the odds of passing the bills individually by Sept. 30.
Six GOP lawmakers told Axios they expect to be tied up during all of September as they race to pass the spending bills and get them negotiated with the Senate.
Many of the House GOP's appropriations bills are being loaded with measures on hot-button topics like abortion that could threaten passage — and make it harder to negotiate with the Democratic-controlled Senate.
Those pushing the social measures believe – not without reason – that the spending bills are their only real leverage over their House colleagues. But such leverage does not extend to the Democrat-controlled Senate.
And so a shutdown is on the table. But those same self-styled conservatives who may force matters in that direction undercut their case every time they speak. Consider the utterances of Virginia Rep. Bob Good:
“We should not fear a government shutdown!” he declared. “Most of what we do up here is bad, anyway!”
Good then claimed that essential operations for the government would continue during a shutdown and that most Americans wouldn't even notice the difference.
Essential operations may continue – that's largely up to the White House which, if history is a guide, will use a Washington Monument strategy to close what are non-essential, but also highly visible, federal operations first. And there are few better view made-for-TV-moments than “closed' signs outside national parks and, of course, the Washington Monument.
As for Mr. Good's assertion that most of what Congress does is “bad” anyway, he might be on stronger ground. But not necessarily for the reasons he thinks. Consider the time the House of Representatives devoted to a hearing about a federal “coverup” on UFO sightings and extraterrestrial visitors.
A case study of how Congress is not above wasting its time and your money. But hardly the first. For the curious here's a 1995 GAO report on its search for records on what may have crashed near Roswell, New Mexico in 1947.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of American Liberty News.
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Let it shut down and blame biden!
No, everything that happens that is bad for the citizens is Trumps fault. Old senile Joe has no clue as to what’s going on in the government. He speaks the words that he is given by his handlers without even knowing what they mean. This country is sitting on a powder keg, and that keg is about to explode into that second American revolution that’s been talked about for several years now. When it happens it will further tear this country apart and may well destroy our constitutional republic.
Am strongly contemplating taking a poop?
Bravo Yes Hooray