[captionpix imgsrc=”https://pvnn.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/10/mikepoliticans.png” captiontext=”Photo courtesy of Huffingtonpost.com“]
The threat of a government shutdown receded this week after the Republican-controlled Congress passed a budget that included funding for Planned Parenthood. However, another budget will be negotiated in December, and there is already talk of another shutdown. New York’s Democratic governor Andrew Cuomo encouraged his party to shut down the government as a strategy for passing gun control legislation.[ref] Mark Henson, “Cuomo: Shut down the Government over Guns,” The Hill, Oct. 2, 2015.[/ref] Since there is less ideological overlap between the two parties and politicians on both sides of the aisle find it appropriate to shut down the government over single issues like abortion and gun control, government shutdowns will continue to occur.
Although budgetary disagreements occur in other countries, government shutdowns are an American phenomenon. Other countries with representative governments use a Parliamentary system, and do not have separate executive and legislative branches. The ruling coalition can almost always pass the budget it wants.[ref]Peter Weber, “Why Other Countries Don’t Shut down Their Governments,” Oct. 2013.[/ref] Our Founding Fathers wanted a system where it was more difficult for one faction to determine the national agenda. Looking to the French philosopher, Montesquieu, the framers of the Constitution established a separation of powers within the government. The Constitution states that Congress must pass a budget to fund day-to-day government operations that the President signs into law. When Congress and the President cannot reach an agreement, all non-emergency functions of the federal government cease until new legislation is signed into law.[ref]Hans Spakovsky, “What Happens During a Government Shutdown?” The Heritage Foundation, July 30, 2013.[/ref] Since 1976, there have been eighteen government shutdowns. The question then, is how can the U.S. reach some kind of budget agreement, while not being disruptive o the people employed by the government, and not threatening America’s credit worthiness around the world? Ultimately, this tactic needs to end.
The first government shutdown occurred during Gerald Ford’s administration. Ford “vetoed a funding bill for the Departments of Labor and Health, Education, and Welfare, arguing that it failed to restrain spending adequately.” [ref]Dylan Matthews, “Here Is Every Previous Government Shutdown, Why They Happened and How They Ended,” Washington Post, Sept. 25, 2013.[/ref] Congress overrode Ford’s veto, and the partial shutdown quickly ended. There were five shutdowns during Jimmy Carter’s presidency; most occurred because the President and the Democratic-Congress could not agree on how to fund abortion. Eight shutdowns took place when Ronald Reagan was President. Cutting government spending was the cornerstone of his presidential platform, but the Democratic-Congress, led by Speaker Tip O’Neill, did not approve of Reagan’s efforts to cut domestic programs while expanding the military. This led to a series of shutdowns, and because Reagan and O’Neill could not agree on spending cuts, the national debt tripled in size. The single shutdown during George HW Bush’s presidency resulted from a dispute about deficit reduction, but Bush quickly agreed to the House and Senate’s joint resolution and ended the shutdown.
The series of shutdowns that occurred between 1976 and 1990 caused minor disruption and rarely lasted more than a weekend. The nature of government shutdowns changed in the budget battles between Democratic President Bill Clinton and Republican Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich. [ref]Luke Johnson, “Newt Gingrich vs. Bill Clinton: Political Rivals Had Stormy Partnership,” The Huffington Post, Dec. 22, 2011.[/ref] Gingrich was determined to slow the rate of government spending, and this conflicted with President Clinton’s goals involving education, the environment, and Medicare. Clinton and Gingrich could not reach a compromise in time, and the government shut down for a week in November 1995.
Congress enacted a temporary spending bill, but since the disagreements had not resolved, a three-week shutdown began in December. Gingrich demanded that the government approach its budget strategy through the Congressional Budget Office’s economic forecast, instead of the White House’s more optimistic numbers. Finally, a compromise was reached. President Clinton accepted the CBO’s estimates so the Republicans passed legislation that reopened the government, resulting in a balanced budget from 1998 until 2001. The Republicans were certain that Clinton would be blamed for the shutdown, and that this would lead to his defeat in the 1996 election. However, nearly half of the American people blamed the Republicans for the shutdown, and Clinton’s popularity rating reached its highest level since his inauguration. [ref]Robert Longley, “Government Shutdown? – U.S. Government Info/Resources – Date: 10/24/99,” About.com US Government, Oct. 2, 2015.[/ref]
The most recent government shutdown took place in 2013. A funding gap was created when the House and Senate could not agree on an appropriations continuing resolution. The Republican-led House, encouraged by conservative Senators such as Ted Cruz, were determined to defund the Affordable Care Act, President Obama’s signature legislation. President Obama and the Democratic Senate rejected the House’s proposal, and the government was shut down, resulting in significant disruption. The Senate stripped the proposal of its measures that related to the Affordable Care Act, and the shutdown ended after sixteen days. [ref] Stephen Dinan, “House Passes Spending Bill to Defund Obamacare,” Washington Times, Sept. 20, 2013.[/ref]
Once again, the Republicans received the bulk of the blame. Nonetheless, over eighty percent of Americans disapproved of the shutdown and felt that it hurt America’s global image. This reflects the key problem with government shutdown as a political tactic; the American public identifies who is responsible and punishes the perpetrator. Government shutdowns almost never bring about their intended result. They gamble with America’s borrowing power and position in the world economy. It is in the interests of elected leaders to cooperate and avoid these tactics that promote hostility and embarrass the US government. One way to prevent the likelihood of more shutdowns is for elected leaders to craft long-term budgets, rather than short-term ones. On October 2, 2015, President Obama said that he wanted to use the ten weeks before the next budget deadline to negotiate a long-term budget plan, saying, “Congress has to do its job.”[ref] Peter Schroeder, “Obama’s Ultimatum: No More Short-term Spending Bills,” TheHill, Oct. 2, 2015.[/ref] Ultimately, only a reduction in partisanship will decrease the chance of another shutdown. As long as the two parties view each other with suspicious and put ideology above governance, shutting down the government will remain a tactic used for partisan saber-rattling and short-term goals.
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