Lawmakers and budget experts offered different ideas on Wednesday for preventing future government shutdowns, with proposals ranging from automatic continuing resolutions that keep agencies funded to broader reforms aimed at fixing the congressional budget process.
During a July 22 House Appropriations Committee hearing on government shutdown reform, lawmakers and witnesses agreed shutdowns impose costs on federal employees, agencies, and taxpayers. However, they disagreed on the best solution to prevent shutdowns.
The debate follows the longest full government shutdown and the longest partial government shutdown in U.S. history this past year, renewing calls from lawmakers on both sides of the aisle to prevent future funding lapses.
Lankford pushes automatic CRs to keep government open
Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., urged Congress to adopt his Prevent Government Shutdowns Act, which would automatically extend current funding through two-week continuing resolutions (CRs) whenever appropriations lapse.
Unlike a traditional yearlong automatic CR, Lankford said his “nonpartisan proposal” is designed to keep the pressure on Congress by restricting lawmakers’ ability to leave Washington until spending bills are finished.
“The goal is not an automatic CR. The goal is to finish appropriations, and if we haven’t finished our constitutional responsibility of appropriations, we have to remain in session seven days a week until we finish appropriations work,” Lankford told members of the committee.
“As my mom, the Sunday school teacher and school teacher, often said, ‘If you don’t finish your work during class, you have to stay after class until it’s done.’ The proposal is just that simple,” he added.
Under the proposal, official travel for members of Congress and the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) would be prohibited until appropriations are complete.
“Nothing is more motivating in this town than jet fumes,” Lankford said.
He added that the current system unfairly punishes federal workers and the public instead of lawmakers.
“Federal workers and their families should not suffer when Congress has not finished their appropriations work,” Lankford said.
McClintock seeks faster Senate action
Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif., offered a different approach, arguing that Congress should reform Senate procedures rather than create automatic funding extensions.
McClintock said appropriations bills should receive expedited consideration similar to the budget reconciliation process, which allows legislation to pass the Senate with a simple majority vote.
He argued the Senate’s 60-vote cloture requirement has made it increasingly difficult to complete appropriations bills before funding deadlines, contributing to repeated continuing resolutions and shutdown threats.
“This isn’t a cure-all,” McClintock said of his bill. “Since the Senate and House are designed to disagree, it’s still going to require intense negotiation between the two houses. But it will at least remove the blockage that often prevents that discussion from taking place, and it reduces the temptation to misuse reconciliation in order to bypass closure.”
Young warns against automatic CRs
Former OMB Director Shalanda Young cautioned lawmakers against adopting automatic CRs, arguing they could reduce incentives to negotiate spending bills.
“I don’t want to provide any more off ramps for people not to do the hard work,” Young said.
“Automatic CR legislation is likely to empower bad actors looking to frustrate, compromise, or hijack appropriations for their own legislative priorities, and will lead to worse, less responsive governing,” she said.
Instead, Young urged Congress to address broader structural issues that complicate the appropriations process.
Among her recommendations were expanding the House and Senate Appropriations Committees, increasing committee staff, reforming the apportionment process, adjusting the timing of the budget resolution, and placing more funding directives into statute rather than committee report language.
Young acknowledged that procedural changes could help, but she said no reform would succeed without lawmakers’ willingness to reach bipartisan agreements.
“No process or structural change trumps political will,” Young said.
“When I was OMB director, there were no shutdowns, and it wasn’t because we got everything we wanted,” she added. “We chose, and many of you chose in this room, to put the stability of the country over strongly held positions on both sides of the aisle. We have done it before. We can do it again.”