The federal government partially shut down on Monday, Feb. 15. Congress could not come to an agreement on a funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security due to disagreements over Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which is housed within the department.
Since the Transportation Security Administration is also housed there, this means these workers will not be paid, likely disrupting travel, as occurred in October and November of last year.
As I discussed in my November column, shutting down the government has devolved into a game of chicken in which each party threatens to shut down the government unless the other side capitulates on the policy issue at hand. In the first Trump administration, it was border wall funding. The shutdown in October and November was over health care subsidies, while the most recent shutdown is over ICE.
It is obvious that shutting down the government to extract policy concessions from the other side is a poor way to legislate. It is wrong to expect federal workers to work without pay, and taxpayers are left in the lurch as they become unsure whether their plane will take off on time or whether they can get through security with enough time to make their flight. Thus, here are a few small reforms to make government shutdowns less likely in the future.
First, if the parties cannot agree to a new spending bill, then a federal agency should be automatically funded at its current level.
Shutdowns disrupt economic activity, inconvenience taxpayers, and require federal workers to work without pay. The practice of shutting down the government should end.
This continuity of spending would remove the incentive for one side to shut down the government, as the agency would continue to be funded. If Congress wants to change the agency’s funding, then it can do so through the usual legislative process.
Second, Congress should not be allowed to adjourn when funding authorization is set to expire in the meantime. The House of Representatives adjourned for a week during the current shutdown, just as it did during the previous shutdown, guaranteeing some level of disruption to taxpayers and federal workers. Congress should stay in session until a new funding package is negotiated and passed.
Third, the filibuster should be reformed. The word “filibuster” does not appear in the Constitution; instead, it is part of parliamentary procedure. Robert’s Rules of Order requires a two-thirds majority to end debate and proceed to a vote, while the Senate requires a 60 percent majority. However, Robert’s Rules also requires that someone must actively be speaking to prolong debate. When the speaking stops, the vote automatically occurs. This used to be how the Senate operated until the filibuster was changed in 1972 to allow filibusters without active debate. This rule change should be reversed to make it more difficult to filibuster and thus reduce their frequency.
Absent reform, I expect there to be another government shutdown soon after this one over a different policy disagreement. Shutdowns disrupt economic activity, inconvenience taxpayers, and require federal workers to work without pay. The practice of shutting down the government should end.
