A Timeline of Dysfunctional Government Funding

Congress took a step this week toward avoiding the third government shutdown of 2018 at the month's end, with the Senate approving an $855 billion spending package containing two appropriations bills and a continuing resolution to keep the rest of the government funded through December 7th.

The House is expected to take up the funding package next week to avert a shutdown at midnight on September 30th. Its enactment would make it five appropriations bills signed into law before the start of the new fiscal year (the other three were included in a $147 billion “minibus”). Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have touted this as an incremental, but significant, milestone in returning to “regular order”. Here's why:

• It’s been a long time — more than 20 years — since Congress last passed all of the 12 regular appropriations bills that are supposed to be enacted before the start of the new fiscal year, and it’s only happened four times since the FY1977.
• As a result, Congress has relied on ”omnibus” appropriations bills which combine all 12 into one piece of legislation, and continuing resolutions to fill in the gaps between the passage of the lengthier omnibus bills (sometimes for only a few days).

To illustrate how erratic the appropriations process has been in recent years, we’ve chronicled the bills that have funded the federal government since the 114th Congress began in January 2015 below.

H.J.Res. 143: Making Further Continuing Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2019 (December 8, 2018 - December 21, 2018)

H.R. 6157: Dept. of Defense and Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education Appropriations Act, 2019 and Continuing Appropriations Act, 2019 (October 1, 2018 - December 7, 2018)

H.R. 1625: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2018 (March 22, 2018 - September 30, 2018)

H.R. 1892: Bipartisan Budget Act of 2018 (February 9, 2018 - March 23, 2018)

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN Early morning hours of February 9, 2018)

H.R. 195: Federal Register Printing Savings Act (January 23, 2018 - February 8, 2018)

GOVERNMENT SHUTDOWN (January 20, 2018 - January 22, 2018)

H.R. 1370: CHIP and Public Health Funding Extension Act (December 23, 2017 - January 19, 2018)

H.J.Res. 123: Making Further Continuing Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2018 (December 9, 2017 - December 22, 2017)

H.R. 601: Disaster Relief Appropriations Act, 2017 (September 8, 2017 - December 8, 2017)

H.R. 244: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2017 (May 4, 2017 - September 30, 2017)

H.J.Res. 99: Continued Health Benefits for Miners Act (April 27, 2017 - May 5, 2017)

H.R. 2028: Continued Health Benefits for Miners Act (December 9, 2016 - April 28, 2017)

H.R. 5325: Continuing Appropriations Act, 2017 (September 28, 2016 - December 9, 2016)

H.R. 2029: Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2016 (December 18, 2015 - September 30, 2016)

H.J.Res. 78: Making Further Continuing Appropriations for Fiscal Year 2016 (December 16, 2015 - December 22, 2015)

H.R. 2250: Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2016 (December 11, 2015 - December 16, 2015)

H.R. 719: Continuing Appropriations Act, 2016 (September 30, 2015 - December 11, 2015)

H.R. 83: Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act, 2015 (December 16, 2014 - September 30, 2015)

Tell your reps about how you think the process of funding the government is functioning and share your thoughts below!

— Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: U.S. Capitol via Flickr / Public Domain)