Congress Passes Landmark Funding Bill, Government Now Safe Until a Week From Thursday
Photo: Martin Falbisoner, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
WASHINGTON — The nation's capital erupted in cautious celebration Tuesday night as Congress passed a landmark continuing resolution funding the federal government at current levels through the end of next Thursday, bringing to a close — for eleven days — the uncertainty that has gripped the republic since the last Thursday.
Leadership in both parties hailed the two-week patch as a triumph of the legislative process and proof that divided government can still produce results, provided nobody defines "results."
"This body has shown the American people what is possible when both parties come together and refuse to do the thing," the Speaker told a podium of flags. "We did not shirk. We did not govern. We funded the government until Thursday, which, when you think about it, is most Thursdays."
A Streak of Rare Consistency
Leadership also pointed to the institution's three-decade streak of never completing a budget on time, describing the record as evidence of rare institutional consistency in an unpredictable world.
"Since 1994, Congress has not once finished a budget on schedule. Not once," said the chairman of the Appropriations Committee, who has chaired the committee in some capacity since the Clinton administration and describes himself as "the last person who remembers what one looks like." "In a chaotic era, the American people deserve institutions they can count on. They can count on us to count on Thursday."
The Patch That Outlived Its Patchers
The measure passed Tuesday is the seventeenth consecutive renewal of the same stopgap, a document that has acquired near-mythic status among congressional staff, who refer to it simply as "the Undying."
First drafted as a forty-eight-hour bridge during a previous fiscal crisis, the resolution has now outlasted four Speakers, two majority leaders, a global pandemic, and three separate "once-in-a-generation" bipartisan summits convened specifically to replace it. It has its own filing cabinet. New hires are briefed on it. Senior appropriators describe it as having "more institutional memory than most agencies," a claim no federal agency has disputed, on the grounds that doing so would require staff.
Experts Warn of Pension Implications
Not everyone is celebrating. Fiscal watchdogs warn that if current renewal patterns hold, the "temporary" measure will soon begin accruing the hallmarks of permanent government.
"At its current rate of renewal, the continuing resolution will qualify for full federal retirement benefits by 2033," said Dr. Priya Natarajan of the Center for Fiscal Realism. "By 2040, it will meet the constitutional age requirement to run for the Senate. It would likely win. It has never lost anything."
The Center's analysis estimates the patch costs roughly $4 trillion more than an actual budget would, but saves the estimated $9 million it would cost to write one, for net savings that leadership's fiscal year in review described as "responsible, in context."
My Constituents Want Certainty
Rank-and-file members defended the approach. "My constituents don't want a budget. They want certainty," said Rep. Dale Hutchins of Ohio, chairman of the Subcommittee on Fiscal Certainty. "And nothing in this world is more certain than Thursday. Thursday is coming. It always comes. We are simply asking the federal government to be ready for it."
The House marked the occasion by passing H. Res. 612, "Honoring the Continuing Resolution," by a vote of 415 to 2. The two dissenting members were reportedly unavailable for comment, possibly because they had read it. The resolution praises the stopgap for "its flexibility, its resilience, and its continued presence in our lives," and directs that a copy be placed at the desk, where it is expected to remain.
Nothing Will Change
The government will revisit the matter when the money runs out, which is scheduled for the end of next Thursday, at which point leadership has arranged a bipartisan fiscal summit expected to produce a new resolution funding the government through the following Thursday — a date sources describe as "looming."
"Nothing about this process is broken," the Speaker assured reporters. "It is working exactly as designed. We designed it that way, in 2011. Temporarily."
