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Once again, Americans are watching the same drama: If Congress doesn’t come to a funding agreement, parts of the federal government could shut down at the end of the week.
If this sounds familiar, it is. Lawmakers were, most recently, in the same situation in September, November and January. Each time, they chose to pass short-term spending plans that pushed the harder work of making real budget decisions a little bit further down the road.
That is likely what will happen again. The threat of government shutdowns, and the use of continuing resolutions to keep the government funded, have become so common that this is essentially standard operating procedure in Washington.
That is ludicrous, and unacceptable.
As we’ve written before, keeping the federal government operational is one of the most basic jobs of Congress. It is a job they are largely failing at.
Yet, here we are for the fourth time in less than six months.
Under a continuing resolution approved by lawmakers in January, some government agencies are funded through March 1. Most are funded through March 8.
There was some hope that a deal to extend government funding could be reached this weekend, but those negotiations broke down.
Most of the drama and dysfunction rests with Republicans in the House, where a small group of outspoken and conservative members have repeatedly sought significant cuts in federal spending. They have so far been unsuccessful, but they toppled then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in October after he helped negotiate a needed short-term spending deal and shepherded it through the House in late September.
Current House Speaker Mike Johnson, who has been at the helm for only four months, faces similar challenges.
This time around, members of the House Freedom caucus are demanding spending cuts driven more by ideology than fiscal concerns. For example, they want to zero out the salary of Homeland Security Alejandro Mayorkas, who the Republican-lead House recently voted to impeach, and to cut off funding for the World Health Organization and several United Nations relief agencies.
Johnson and his fellow House Republicans should put the needs of the American people before the wishes of a faction of their party. He should reject extreme, ideological measures and focus instead on a spending plan that keeps the government open to meet the needs of the American people.
Another continuing resolution is far from ideal, but it is what is possible and once again needed at the moment. For the longer-term, however, lawmakers have to get serious about making real decisions about federal spending.
