How the Hell Do They Fund the Gov’t? A Case Study in Dysfunction

The fireworks in Congress over federal spending the last two weeks have been the latest installment in a seemingly perpetual struggle between lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to fund their policy priorities while keeping the government from shutting down. Indeed, both the $1.1 trillion omnibus spending bill that will be signed into law this week, and the seven day stopgap that preceded it are emblematic of the breakdown of the appropriations process.

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 for each fiscal year, and it’s only happened four times since the 1977 fiscal year. That has forced Congress to rely 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 last Congress began in January 2015 below.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

H.J.Res. 123: Making further continuing appropriations for fiscal year 2018 (December 9, 2017 - December 22, 2017)

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

Government Shutdown (January 20, 2018 - January 22, 2018)

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

Government Shutdown (Early morning hours of February 9, 2018)

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

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

Tell your lawmakers what you about how the appropriations process has functioned recently using the "Take Action" button.

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— Eric Revell

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