Money to fund the government is supposed to run out on September 30 this year — at least, that’s what we’re being told. In fact, the government cannot run out of money because, well, that would be incredibly irresponsible, and Congress wouldn’t dare, would they?
No, they wouldn’t dare. But that won’t stop them from milking the drama from this pretend emergency to the absolute limit.
There’s also a need to raise the debt limit — one of the more ludicrous exercises the government engages in. Congress votes to appropriate the money but then says the agencies can’t spend it unless we raise the limit on the debt. If they didn’t want to spend the money, why appropriate it in the first place?
Morons.
That deadline of September 30 is “frangible,” meaning it’s not a deadline as much as it’s an illusion. But we have to treat it like a real deadline because… yeah, it’s important, or something.
This time around, we have the added drama of midterm elections that are really going to screw things up. And don’t forget (how could you) that we’re in the midst of a public health crisis.
The implications for a shutdown during a public health crisis, however, could be much different. Parts of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health could even close if funding lapses, according to Bill Hoagland, a senior vice president at the Bipartisan Policy Center and former Republican staff director for the Senate Budget Committee. Hoagland said a very brief shutdown may occur, but he doubted it would go on for “any length of time” because of the implications.
“This would be the first shutdown during a declaration of national emergency,” Hoagland said. “In the midst of an ongoing pandemic and non-resolved issues related to the delta [variant of the coronavirus], to have a shutdown of some of the major federal agencies would add unbelievable complications to our ability to recover.”
A quick rule of thumb: the more apocalyptic the rhetoric, the more likely that the hysteria is misplaced.
What everyone forgets is that Congress doesn’t have to pass a spending bill for the whole year — just until after the election would do.
In a sign of the new scramble to avoid a shutdown, the Senate’s two top appropriators — Chairman Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) and top Republican Richard C. Shelby (Ala.) — huddled Thursday to discuss issues potentially including a short-term agreement to keep the government funded. Such a measure could be moved independently of an increase in the debt ceiling, since Republicans, including Senate Minority Leader McConnell (R-Ky.), have previously expressed an openness to supporting such a solution.
It would have been nice to spend the summer sitting on my patio, drinking iced tea, watching the White Sox, and not having to write about this Kabuki dance on the Hill. But really, it’s almost irresistible. Where else can you find grown men and women flinging feces and kicking sand in each other’s faces over absolutely nothing?
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