We are nine days into the 2013 government shutdown and there’s been no shortage of rhetoric and political one-liners about what’s happening in Washington, what a government shutdown is and how we got to where we are today.
Government shutdowns, or “lapses in appropriations” in D.C.-speak, occur when Congress and the president fail to approve legislation to authorize the federal government to spend money.
This is the first shutdown in 17 years, but in the past they happened more frequently. Since 1976, there have been 18 government shutdowns, including this one, and the duration of these shutdowns has ranged from just one day in 1982 to 21 days in 1995-96.
The effects of every shutdown have been different, based on a number of reasons, but in reality, the federal government doesn’t fully shutdown. Roughly 87 percent of spending is mandatory and continues for things like social security checks and pay for military personnel even when appropriations bills have not been signed into law.
In the past, after a shutdown came to an end, Congress and the president returned to something we haven’t seen in Washington for more than four years: a Constitutional appropriations process. This is the process laid out by our forefathers where the House and the Senate approve a number of individual annual appropriations bills, which are then signed into law by the president to give the federal government the authorization to spend money. This is the check and balance that is the hallmark of our democracy.
Why is this process so important? It allows Congress to actually govern and, as James Madison wrote, have “the power over the purse.” The process allows us to take a close look at each area where the government spends money and find out what’s working, what’s not and make needed changes every year. It lays out the federal government’s vision for the country and gives the hardworking taxpayers the certainty they need and deserve from their government leaders.
And that’s why we are here today in the midst of the 18th government shutdown. In the last four years Washington has totally abandoned the Constitutional appropriations process – instead relying on an endless cycle of continuing resolutions, which result in fiscal cliffs, artificial deadlines and the passage of large, omnibus spending bills instead of actually reforming the way Washington spends money.
It’s alarming to me, as I speak to some of my colleagues, to learn that some Members of Congress have never governed under a budget – all they’ve ever known is continuing resolutions and large spending bills.
In fact, in the 10 months since I was sworn in to Congress, the House has only passed four of the 12 appropriations bills needed to fund the federal government. While this is a failure, our colleagues in the Senate have yet to approve a single appropriations bill.
That’s not what our forefathers envisioned, and it has to be addressed because failing to do so forces us to deal with these fiscal cliffs and deadlines every few months, instead of working on other large issues at hand such as a Farm Bill, transportation improvements and job-creation measures.
But in the meantime, we have to come together and find a way out of our current crisis. This requires everyone, the House, the Senate and the president, to come to the table to negotiate in good faith and find a commonsense solution.
However, as things stand now, Harry Reid and President Obama are refusing to negotiate or compromise to find a way out of the current government shutdown. Refusing to be a part of this process is unacceptable, it’s not real leadership and the hardworking taxpayers of this country deserve better.
I hope that in the coming days we can put an end to this shutdown and return to governing through the Constitutional appropriations process that we were elected to uphold.
Rep. Rodney Davis is a Republican who represents Illinois’ 13th congressional district.
