Should Congress legislate automatic funding for essential services?

[Xelor]

The current government shutdown is affective a wide assortment of essential services -- law enforcement, national intelligence operations, transportation, and more -- and about the only good thing about it is that part of the government is funded.

I think Congress should pass legislation that automatically renews funding at a certain level for every federal agency/department. For instance:

• FY 2017 funding for Agency X was $ABC billion; therefore Agency X will automatically receive that much funding going forward. POTUSes and Congresses would then need only appropriate for changes in the funding and program undertakings, but the "baseline" funding the agency needs to do the vast majority of its job is automatically provided for.

Of course, Congress would periodically, maybe every lustrum or decade, need to shift the baseline year forward.


Impact of auto-funding:

• No complete shutdowns, but it would force some degree of austerity
• Dramatically diminishes the viability of throwing the political temper tantrum that is shutting down the government

 

[Mycroft]

No.

I have a better solution:

When an agency does not receive funding...no matter who prevents that funding...the agency shuts down. Nobody goes to work. Nobody gets paid. Period.

I WANT Congress and the President to do their jobs and fund the government. I DON'T want to make it easier for them to shirk their responsibility. I want them to suffer real consequences when they do shirk their responsibility.

If my solution were enacted, shutdowns would never happen.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Such an idea would never pass because it takes away the need to have "must pass" huge "omibus" spending bills which allow the insertion of all manner of pork. If such a law was ever proposed then you can rest assured that it would not mandate flat funding (such as as you have described) but would "index" the next FY spending to last year's FY spending plus some additional percentage (perhaps CPI inflation) of increase - what they now like to call "baseline budgeting".

https://www.cagw.org/content/baseline-budgeting

 

[Xelor]

Such an idea would never pass because it takes away the need to have "must pass" huge "omibus" spending bills which allow the insertion of all manner of pork. If such a law was ever proposed then you can rest assured that it would not mandate flat funding (such as as you have described) but would "index" the next FY spending to last year's FY spending plus some additional percentage (perhaps CPI inflation) of increase - what they now like to call "baseline budgeting".

https://www.cagw.org/content/baseline-budgeting

Frankly, I'm more interested in (1) having the governments core functions and the workers who provide them being continuous and (2) removing the political leverage concomitant with leaving unfunded core governmental functions/services.

Flat-funded as I suggested or indexed as you've described, makes no difference to me; either is fine. Have I preference between those two approaches? Sure, but each approach is better than it being possible to shutdown the government, or even part of it, for political ends.

 

[ttwtt78640]

Frankly, I'm more interested in (1) having the governments core functions and the workers who provide them being continuous and (2) removing the political leverage concomitant with leaving unfunded core governmental functions/services.

Flat-funded as I suggested or indexed as you've described, makes no difference to me; either is fine. Have I preference between those two approaches? Sure, but each approach is better than it being possible to shutdown the government, or even part of it, for political ends.

It was obvious what you preferred, because you started a thread about it. I simply replied with my opinion on that matter.

 

[Xelor]

Well, the sentiment of the suggestion noted in the OP has moved a step closer to fruition with the The Stop STUPIDITY Act, which is aimed at preventing future shutdowns. The bill's full name: "Stop Shutdowns Transferring Unnecessary Pain and Inflicting Damage in the Coming Years Act."

 

[cpwill]

The current government shutdown is affective a wide assortment of essential services -- law enforcement, national intelligence operations, transportation, and more -- and about the only good thing about it is that part of the government is funded.

I think Congress should pass legislation that automatically renews funding at a certain level for every federal agency/department. For instance:

• FY 2017 funding for Agency X was $ABC billion; therefore Agency X will automatically receive that much funding going forward. POTUSes and Congresses would then need only appropriate for changes in the funding and program undertakings, but the "baseline" funding the agency needs to do the vast majority of its job is automatically provided for.

Of course, Congress would periodically, maybe every lustrum or decade, need to shift the baseline year forward.


Impact of auto-funding:

• No complete shutdowns, but it would force some degree of austerity
• Dramatically diminishes the viability of throwing the political temper tantrum that is shutting down the government

No. The last thing Congress needs is another Constitutionally questionable means of avoiding doing its job, and/or handing more power to the executive.

Sent from my Moto G (5S) Plus using Tapatalk

 

[Masterhawk]

We already have automatic spending for social programs (social security, medicare, medicaid, and welfare) if I'm not mistaken.