145 Hours to Federal Fiscal Year 2021: Historical Shutdowns and the Current Legislative Situation
Introduction: At the time of this article's publication, exactly 1 hour and 7 days remain in the 2020 fiscal year, with the 2021 Fiscal Year beginning on midnight next Thursday, October 1st. With that, renewed talk of a potential shortfall of funding (or "government shutdown") at the beginning of the 2021 Fiscal Year has begun to emerge once again (Dartunorro). Yet, as will be noted below, the House has taken action to prevent such a situation, and the Senate will likely follow-up on that (Lerman and Shutt). Tonight's post provides a brief rundown of the current legislative status of Fiscal Year 2021 funding and what potential outcomes could result. The information presented here is accurate and up-to-date as of this article's original publication (9/24/2020 at 8:00pm PST).
Brief Rundown of America's Appropriations System: At the Federal-level of the United States, each new fiscal year begins on the October 1st before the actual year begins. For example, Fiscal Year 2020 (the current one) began on October 1, 2019 ("Q&A...Government Shutdowns," 1). By midnight on that day, Congress is required to pass appropriations bills to fund discretionary spending, which is funding that is negotiated and renewed every year. There are 12 different appropriations bills per fiscal year, each covered by an Appropriations Subcommittee, one of which (Energy and Water Development) I interned for in Spring 2020. On the other hand, "mandatory funding" refers to appropriations that are fixed in the medium-to-long-term, and are only changed by changing specific legislation ("Understanding the Budget").
Funding Gaps and/vs. Shutdowns: A "funding gap" occurs when discretionary funding bills are not passed before the initiation of a new fiscal year. A funding gap reaches the level of a "government shutdown" if agencies and programs covered under the 12 discretionary funding areas must cut all non-essential services and programs. Such shutdowns can be partial if not all of the appropriations bills for a fiscal year are not passed. Note that in any shutdown or funding gap, agencies and programs covered by "mandatory funding" continue to operate, with some exceptions. A funding gap of any size ends when the appropriations bills covering each subcommittee's jurisdiction are passed by Congress and signed into law ("Q&A...Government Shutdowns," 1).
History of Funding Gaps and Shutdowns: As noted in the introduction above, there have been 4 instances of government shutdowns caused by the lack of a passed funding bill since 1976, when the modern Congressional budget process was solidified ("Q&A...Government Shutdowns," 3-4). These four instances are the following:
- 1995-1996 (twice): During the Winter season of 1995-1996, the Federal Government shut down twice for almost a month due to fiscal policy disagreement between President Bill Clinton's administration and the Republican-controlled Congress ("Q&A...Government Shutdowns," 4).
- 2013: Going into the Fiscal Year 2014 negotiations, a deadlock between President Barack Obama and the Republican-controlled House over funding the Obama administration's Affordable Care Act (ACA) led to a 2-week shutdown ("Q&A...Government Shutdowns," 4).
- 2018-2019: The Winter season 2018-2019 shutdown was the longest in American history, lasting over a month. Like the previous shutdowns, it was the result of a dispute between the President and Congress. This time, the dispute was over whether President Trump's border wall should be funded ("Q&A...Government Shutdowns," 4). This shutdown was a partial one, as 7 of the 12 appropriations bills were not passed before the funding deadline ("Q&A,...Government Shutdowns," 1).
In addition to the shutdowns mentioned above, the past decade has seen several significant funding gaps or similar situations that came close to shutdowns. In January 2018, a coalition of Democratic and Republican Senators filibustered the funding bill to protest the lack of provisions to protect Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients, thus leading to a 2-day shutdown (Matthews). This funding gap is notable because it occurred despite Congress and the White House being controlled by the same party (the Republicans) ("US Government"). Federal workers were almost furloughed before a last-minute funding bill was signed into law (Barrett et al.). One month later, the funding gap reopened, this time lasting only 5 hours. As such, it did not reach the level of a government shutdown, as employee furloughs were not enacted due to the gap's short timeframe ("Q&A...Government Shutdowns," 3-4). Furthermore, while the 2011 debt ceiling debate did not directly relate to fiscal appropriations, had the debt ceiling not been raised, a partial shutdown could have been likely. This is because if the U.S. defaulted on its debt, then it would not be able to pay all of its creditors, which can include government funding ("Q&A...Debt Ceiling," 4).
Current Status of Fiscal Year 2021 Legislation: On Tuesday, September 22, the House passed a bipartisan spending bill to keep the Federal Government funded through December 11th, 2020. In addition to funding the Federal Government at normal levels, the bill includes additional assistance for nutrition benefits and aid to agricultural workers (Dartunorro). While the Senate has not yet considered the House bill, it is expected to be considered soon (Mattingly).
Works Cited:
Barrett, Ted, Dana Bush, Daniella Diaz, and Ashley Killough. "Trump signs bill ending shutdown, official says." CNN, 23 Jan. 2018, www.cnn.com/2018/01/22/politics/senate-shutdown-vote-congress/index.html. Accessed 23 Sept. 2020.
Clark, Dartunorro. "House passes funding bill with GOP support to avert looming government shutdown." NBC News, 22 Sept. 2020, www.nbcnews.com/politics/congress/house-passes-funding-bill-gop-support-avert-looming-government-shutdown-n1240774. Accessed 23 Sept. 2020.
Lerman, David, Jennifer Shutt. "House passes stopgap funding bill shortly after bipartisan deal." Roll Call, 22 Sept. 2020, www.rollcall.com/2020/09/22/deal-on-stopgap-funding-bill-reached-house-vote-tuesday-night/. Accessed 24 Sept. 2020.
Matthews, Dylan. "All 20 previous government shutdowns, explained." Vox, 12 Jan. 2019, www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/1/19/16905584/government-shutdown-history-clinton-obama-explained. Accessed 23 Sept. 2020.
Mattingly, Phil. "Pelosi and Mnuchin reach agreement to keep government funded until December 11." CNN, 22 Sept. 2020, www.cnn.com/2020/09/22/politics/government-funding-deal-reached/index.html. Accessed 23 Sept. 2020.
"Q&A: Everything You Should Know About Government Shutdowns." Center for a Responsible Federal Budget, last updated 17 Sept. 2020, www.crfb.org/sites/default/files/QAShutdowns_Sept2020.pdf. Accessed 23 Sept. 2020.
"Q&A: Everything You Should Know About the Debt Ceiling." Center for a Responsible Federal Budget, last updated 27 Feb. 2019, www.crfb.org/sites/default/files/QA_DebtCeilingFeb27.pdf. Accessed 23 Sept. 2020.
"Understanding the Budget: Spending." Peter G. Peterson Foundation, www.pgpf.org/finding-solutions/understanding-the-budget/spending. Accessed 23 Sept. 2020.
"US government shutdown: How did we get here?" BBC, 22 Jan. 2018, www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-39698546. Accessed 23 Sept. 2020.
Nathan Parmeter
Author and Host, The Parmeter Politics and Policy Record
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