It’s Time for Congress to stop toying with our Nation’s Budget

By Rep. Karen Alzate (RI), By Rep. Karen Alzate (RI), Vice Chair of NHCSL’s Government, Social Justice and Taxation Task Force

In 2019, our Caucus approved Resolution 2019-02, Supporting safeguarded automatic carry-overs to prevent Federal government shutdowns. Since then, in the last few months, we’ve had the threat of yet another government shutdown twice.

Some people, including members of Congress, might think this is an absolutely inevitable situation, especially in the face of a divided legislative body that can rarely agree on bipartisan solutions. Others are aware but completely disregard the consequences that our Nation and our federal employees, especially blue-collar workers, have to face.

But, as exposed in Resolution 2019-02, there is something we can and should do in the face of a potential shutdown: a budgetary carry-over.

A budgetary carry over means that, in the event of a budgetary impasse, Congress and the White House should prevent shutdowns by automatically reusing the latest approved budget at the end of a fiscal year, month by month, with inflationary adjustments, until a new one is agreed to.

These adjustments should focus on the monetary totals for recurrent expenditures, like employee salaries, safety-net programs, health care, veterans’ compensation, SSI and SNAP.

An open federal government should be a priority for the benefit of these programs and their recipients, our federal workers, and our national security. During the 2018-2019 government shutdown, our country saw a staggering loss of $11 billion, federal workers were forced to rely on foodbanks for survival, multiple agencies that serve marginalized communities had to close, and the work done by environmental, fiscal, and security agencies, including Custom Border Patrol, was severely impeded.

Shutdowns are a consequence of a Congressional inaction, and not of the Constitution. It’s time for Congress to adopt NHCSL’s public policy proposal that ensures the federal government remains open despite political differences.

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