The House is set to return to work and get to fixing the shutdown…….

After a 54-day recess, the House of Representatives is finally getting back to work, convening to vote on a bill aimed at ending the nation’s longest government shutdown. The Senate has already approved the measure, and President Trump has signaled his support, putting the bill on a fast track—if House Republicans can muster the votes. House Speaker Mike Johnson is under pressure to deliver after nearly two months with no legislation, hearings, or debate, as millions of Americans faced shutdown-related disruptions, per the New York Times. The legislation at hand would fund most of the government through Jan. 30, and some departments and programs, including SNAP, through next September, per PBS.

The bill promises to restore jobs and provide back pay for furloughed federal workers. It also provides millions in security for judges, Supreme Court justices, and members of Congress, and some $844 million for military construction, per PBS. As NBC News reports, it also includes a provision to allow senators to sue the federal government if their data is obtained without their knowledge. This would seem to lay the groundwork for eight Republican senators to sue over phone records subpoenaed in 2023 as part of special counsel Jack Smith’s investigation into the 2021 Capitol attack.

The path to passage isn’t smooth. Republicans hold only a slim majority, and most Democrats are firmly against the bill, citing the absence of a crucial extension for federal health care subsidies. Johnson is relying on Trump’s backing to keep his caucus together, but even a small group of fiscal conservatives could throw up last-minute hurdles. Democrats, meanwhile, are hoping to minimize defections and ramp up pressure on the GOP. Their numbers will grow to 214 (versus 219 Republicans) with the swearing-in of Adelita Grijalva, an Arizona Democrat whose seating Johnson delayed. Action is expected to ramp up late Wednesday afternoon, though it could be slowed further by travel snags—the same ones plaguing the public.

Keep in mind that they got full pay for 54 days with no work.

Will this act help the shutdown be reversed?

History tells us that it is not over until it’s over.

Speaking of history….when did all this silliness begin?  Has it been a ‘thing’ this whole history of the country?

Before the early 1980s, federal agencies simply kept operating when appropriations had expired (known as a funding gap). The agencies minimized all nonessential operations and obligations, believing Congress did not intend for agencies to close down. Some of the activities that agencies would refrain from during this period were hiring, grant-making, and nonemergency travel.

In the 1970s, appropriation legislation started getting tied to contentious policy issues such as abortion and school integration. That caused six funding gaps in fiscal years 1977 to 1980, which ranged in duration from eight to 17 days. In 1980, reacting to those increasingly frequent funding gaps, President Carter asked the United States Attorney General, Benjamin Civiletti, to provide an opinion on how to interpret funding gaps in the context of the Antideficiency Act. The Antideficiency Act prohibits agencies from obligating or expending federal funds before an appropriation is enacted or above the amount specified in law.

Civiletti issued two opinions about the interpretation of the Antideficiency Act in 1980 and 1981, which shifted the norm from government agencies operating with limited capacity. The opinions state that federal agencies may not spend money when there are no appropriations, with a few practical exceptions. One exception is for spending money to close agencies in an orderly way. Another exception is to allow spending when there is a connection between the agency’s functioning and the safety of human life or the protection of property.

So this has not been a ‘thing’ for very long but it does play into the political games that Congress plays.

So the real shutdown has been that of Congress these momentarily lapses are just part of the game Congress plays with our lives.

Earlier shutdowns—Clinton’s fight with Gingrich in 1995, Obama’s battle with House Republicans in 2013, Trump’s 2018 border wall standoff—were disruptive but contained. Agencies furloughed workers, parks closed, markets wobbled, and then the government reopened, usually with a compromise. What makes this shutdown different is what’s at stake: not just funding, but Congress’s very capacity to function as a coequal branch of government.

For years, lawmakers have relied on short-term funding patches instead of passing real budgets. Each delay weakens Congress’s control over spending and strengthens the executive. Now, as some Republicans begin to break ranks, the deeper problem remains: a Congress afraid of blame, a GOP unwilling to confront Trump, and a presidency eager to fill the vacuum.

The real shutdown isn’t confined to darkened federal offices. It’s unfolding inside Congress itself—an institution that has slowly, and perhaps irreversibly, shut down its own ability to govern.

https://thefulcrum.us/governance-legislation/real-shutdown-congress-surrender-power

This silliness is unnecessary and the only thing truly accomplishes is to penalize the population with the hope that it will effect voting in the future.

It is a game played at our expense.

Thoughts?

Peace   Out

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”