Except for the LEO unions. Gotta protect that property and chattel.
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Close, but not quite, and there’s a reason to pass a bill every year.
Right from that Wikipedia link, there’s 2 distinct types of funding bills. An appropriations bill and a continuing resolution.
Every year, Congress is supposed to pass an appropriations bill. This is how congress is able to direct what things are done by the various agencies. If they want an executive branch agency to do something specific, they can earmark money in the appropriations bill for that task instead of general operations. For instance, if the president wants the FCC to do X, but congress only wants them to study the impact of X and not actually do it, and they care enough, the appropriations bill can include money for a study and specifically exclude using general funds for X. It’s important that they pass a bill every year so this oversight can be exercised.
In theory, when things are working, the president is supposed to send a budget plan for the next year to congress sometime around February. This is the presidents opening offer and starting point. Then, between February and September, congress changes it all around until the house, senate, and president can all agree on some compromise. They pass the appropriations bill, and we’re all set for the next fiscal year.
When that all breaks down, because clearly it does. They pass a continuing resolution instead. This is a short term funding bill that instead of setting a new budget continues the prior funding for a short period. Presumably to keep things open while the finish working out the details that they haven’t agreed on yet for the new year. It’ll happen anytime they’re late and the prior funding bill is ending, say the end of the fiscal year, or because the only passed a continuing resolution and it’s ending.
This combination of in ability to pass a full year budget, short term continuing resolutions, and that the full budget takes a long time even if they were all reasonable, is why it’s basically always being worked on.
While they could automatically renew exactly the same appropriations bill every year, congress would lose its ability to influence other agencies then.
What they should do is pass the full appropriations bill every year, and if not done by September 30, lock everyone in congress without letting them leave until it’s done. If they couldn’t leave the building at all, maybe they would get it done.
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Maybe the police unions, but that’s it.
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“Unpaid Bills as Trump Shows No Sign of Relenting”
The idea of trump eating greasy KFC by candle light and freezing his ass off and not being able to flush his gold toilet is well, well, something.
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The irony of shutting the government down over border security concerns and therefore not paying those who actually enforce border security blows my mind: total cognitive dissonance.
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