Should Funding be Renewed Automatically to Prevent Gov’t Shutdowns and Slightly Reduced if Congress Doesn’t Act? (S. 918)
Do you support or oppose this bill?
What is S. 918?
(Updated March 22, 2018)
This bill — known as the End Government Shutdowns Act — would create an automatic continuing resolution (CR) for any of the twelve regular appropriations bills before October 1 that keeps funding at its current levels temporarily. After 120 days (January 29), funding would be reduced by one percent, and every 90 days thereafter another one percent reduction would occur until Congress completes the annual appropriations process.
Argument in favor
This would prevent government shutdowns from threatening the American economy and give Congress three months after their normal deadline to enact a spending package before gradually reducing funding until Congress acts.
Argument opposed
Preventing government shutdowns automatically is great, but automatic spending reductions that kick in after three months of inaction by Congress would hurt the operations of the agencies that lose funding because of lawmakers’ inaction.
Impact
Federal agencies; and Congress.
Cost of S. 918
A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.
Additional Info
In-Depth: Sponsoring Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) — a former Director of the Office of Management and Budget — introduced this bill to permanently prevent the federal government from shutting down to keep essential services operational and protect taxpayers:
“Almost everybody hates government shutdowns. They don’t accomplish anything. They don’t get our fiscal house in order and they disrupt critical government programs that have a big impact on people’s lives. As leverage in a political negotiation, they’re fool’s gold. We should end government shutdowns for good. My legislation would do that, giving federal workers and their families more stability, providing lawmakers with more time to make smarter decisions for taxpayers and ensuring we avoid disruptions that ultimately hurt our economy and working families.”
This legislation has the support of five cosponsors — Sens. John Barrasso (R-WY), Steve Daines (R-MT), Johnny Isakson (R-GA), Mike Lee (R-UT), and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK).
Media:
Summary by Eric Revell
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