A government shutdown occurs when Congress fails to pass, or the president vetoes, a set of 12 annual budget bills known as appropriations. Without new appropriations legislation, agencies must stop day-to-day operations, with the exception of those deemed essential for safety and security. Employees are furloughed and, in some cases, must continue working without pay.
As a result, food and drug inspections stop, museums and national parks close, and immigration court hearings are canceled. Other services impacted include passport processing, small business loans, and clinical trials for medical research. In addition, hundreds of thousands of federal employees face uncertainty as to whether they will be called back to work.
HLT: Shutdowns, both partial and full, are a serious problem caused by our broken political process. They are a way for elected leaders to use each other and the public as leverage in their funding fights. They also cost the public money because agencies must put contingency plans in place and forgo fee revenue during the shutdown period.
To prevent future shutdowns, we need to change the current budget process. We need to return to individual appropriations bills, and we need to require that each bill be passed in an orderly and timely manner. We need to make sure that every dollar of federal spending is accounted for, and we need to ensure that Congress cannot spend any money it hasn’t appropriated. And we need to allow agencies to prioritize work based on the needs of their stakeholders.
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