The US looks like it will avert a government shutdown after the House of Representatives passed a spending bill. The bill still needs to clear the US Senate where changes are expected to be made.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/S. Loeb
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The US House of Representatives on Tuesday approved another stopgap bill to keep the federal government from shutting down.
The Senate was expected to vote on the new spending bill on Wednesday. Senators were likely to alter the House-passed bill and return it to the House for final passage.
By a mostly partisan vote of 245-182, the Republican-controlled House sent a temporary spending bill to the Senate.
It is the fifth temporary spending bill of the fiscal year.
The bill does not include any specifics on US immigration, in a bid to avoid to a showdown.
Senate Democrats are expected to balk at a House provision that would raise Pentagon funding through September 30 without also raising non-defense spending.
The temporary funding measure would also reauthorize funding for community health centers, which enjoy widespread bipartisan support.
The prospective longer-term budget agreement would give both the Pentagon and domestic agencies relief from a budget freeze that lawmakers say threatens military readiness
US government shutdowns: A chronology
President Joe Biden's government is facing a shutdown if the Republican Congress doesn't approve the budget for the coming fiscal year. DW looks at how shutdowns started, when they became partisan and how much they cost.
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Sundown shutdown
As midnight approaches on September 30, it's go time for Congress: Approve a budget before the start of the new fiscal year on October 1, or shut down the government. Originally, Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution required lawmakers to approve the budget. Honing it further in 1870, the Antideficiency Act targeted agencies that spent money without asking. But deadlines were often missed.
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No money, no pay, no work
At the behest of President Jimmy Carter, the US attorney general revisited the Antideficiency Act in 1980 to answer the question: "Without a budget, are government employees required to work?" According to his Attorney General's legal opinion, no money meant no work. Carter's presidency saw only small shutdowns, but the new interpretation of the law turned shutdowns into a negotiating tactic.
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Ronald Reagan and the first shutdown
The first real shutdown — more than 240,000 workers furloughed, more than $80 million (€65 million) down the drain — occurred in November 1981. President Ronald Reagan refused to sign a budget without billions in tax cuts. The Republican-controlled Senate and the Democrat-controlled House found a solution the next day. This happened seven more times by his last year in 1989.
Image: AP
Bill Clinton and the rise of the partisan shutdown
Budget impasses were largely drama-free until 1995, when President Bill Clinton faced off against Senate Majority Leader Bob Dole and House Speaker Newt Gingrich (pictured left). The Republican-led Congress wanted a balanced budget within seven years, higher Medicare premiums and rollbacks on environment regulations. It took 27 days in total to strike a deal. The cost: at least $1 billion.
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A game for Congress, a headache for the agencies
Many departments such as the military, national security and any deemed essential to the protection of life continue working during shutdowns. But agencies such as the Internal Revenue Service, the Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must cease operations. This results in delays on tax decisions, food inspection and disease research among other problems.
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Barack Obama and Congress on Cruz-control
The next major shutdown came in 2013 under President Barack Obama. His Affordable Health Care Act — or Obamacare — faced stark opposition from conservative House Republicans. Led by Senator Ted Cruz, the group pushed for drastic curbs on the health care act in exchange for raising the debt ceiling. The 18-day shutdown resulted in the furlough of some 850,000 workers. The cost: $24 billion.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/C. Dharapak
Shutdown for a wall
The longest shutdown in US history so far lasted 35 days in December 2018 and January 2019. Hundreds of federal workers went without paychecks. Despite the disruption, then-President Donald Trump insisted that funding for his Mexico border wall be included in the budget. In fact, Trump had said he was prepared for the impasse to go on for years — before he gave in and reopened government.
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Cost of playing politics
The prohibitive cost of shutting down some government operations has not tamed the trend. Washington loses millions not just in revenue, but also in back pay, even though furloughed employees stay at home. So, time lost, work lost — and money lost. According to a 2019 estimate by ratings agency Standard and Poor's, a government shutdown costs the US roughly $6 billion per week.
Image: Imago
Shutdowns contributing to distrust?
The biggest loser is not the economy, or the party that makes the most concessions, it's the government itself. According to a Gallup poll in the aftermath of the 2013 shutdown, public dissatisfaction with the government in general rose to 33%. The previous all-time high regarding political dysfunction was 26% during the Watergate scandal.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/C. Kaster
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Political reaction
Senate Majority Leader Republican Mitch McConnell and Senate Minority Leader Democrat Chuck Schumer reported progress Tuesday morning. "I think we're on the way to getting an agreement and getting it very soon," said McConnell.
"To have five continuing resolutions is a statement of incompetence and ineptitude," House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said on the House floor. With Republicans in control of the House, the Senate and the White House, the fifth short-term spending bill demonstrated their "failure to govern," she said.
If it passes the Senate: The stopgap spending bill would keep the government open through to March 23, thus allowing time to write and pass detailed follow-up "omnibus" legislation to fund the government through to the September 30 end of the fiscal year.
Why have there been five stopgap bills? Congress cannot agree to terms on a long term budget agreement so the stopgap bills buys everyone time to negotiate.
What happens next? The Senate will vote on the bill on Wednesday morning. It is expected to make some changes, pass the bill and send it back to the House for a vote.