The BDN Editorial Board operates independently from the newsroom, and does not set policies or contribute to reporting or editing articles elsewhere in the newspaper or on bangordailynews.com.
As we’ve written many times before, we should not have been here, on the precipice of a federal government shutdown with last-minute passage of a short-term spending plan that simply pushes the harder work of crafting and passing a comprehensive budget a little further down the road.
The continuing resolution passed on Thursday is especially ridiculous because it only funds the government until early March. This is an especially short time to overcome objections that scuttled a long-term funding package, because, as the Washington Post reported, members of Congress have fewer than a dozen days of work together scheduled between the end of this week and March 1 and 8, the new budget deadline in the just-passed funding resolution.
Lawmakers were motivated to rush votes on the measure on Thursday, in part, because a snowstorm was predicted to hit Washington on Friday, with the possibility of grounding flights that could take them home for the weekend.
They should be so motivated to pass an actual budget, and bills on other pressing but complex issues like immigration, because that is the job they are elected to do.
To be fair, plenty of lawmakers are doing this work. But a small group of rabble rousing Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives continues to derail it.
Earlier this month, congressional leaders had reached a deal on funding the federal government for the remainder of this year. The $1.6 trillion spending plan, which House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Republican, and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, was in line with an earlier budget agreement that included the White House.
That blueprint was far from perfect. Cuts to the Internal Revenue Service, for example, are driven more by ideology than by practicality. But it would have capped federal spending, long a goal of fiscally conservative members of Congress. In that regard, it mirrored an agreement reached between then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy and President Joe Biden to raise the debt ceiling last year.
Far-right Republicans worked to scuttle the deal, forcing Johnson to come back with a short-term continuing resolution, which was opposed by 106 Republicans and two Democrats in the House. The measure passed because Democrats backed it. It was passed by a vote of 77-18 in the Senate.
Many far-right Republicans wanted significant spending cuts and some argued the House should block government spending altogether until Biden takes tougher action on immigration across the southern border.
The country’s immigration system needs upgrades and improvements. However, Congress has long failed to agree on comprehensive reforms. They are certainly not forthcoming in high-stakes, short-term spending negotiations.
In addition, this week’s short-term spending plan, like the one before it, does not include additional money for Ukraine or Israel, both of which need further discussion in Congress.
It is possible that this week’s spending plan and debate could imperil the so far short tenure of Johnson. Some of the same far-right Republicans who initiated the ouster of McCarthy are now criticizing Johnson for both the continuing resolution and the larger $1.6 trillion spending plan.
Sadly, this dysfunctional dynamic is nothing new in Congress. While it has taken on a new element with the high-stakes game of musical chairs that House Republicans have played with the speakership, the continuing use of continuing resolutions has become the frustrating and irresponsible norm. Is it better than the alternative of a government shutdown? Sure. But it is not enough. Members of Congress, especially House Republicans, need to prove they can actually govern. That starts with passing spending bills.