In January 1988, in Ronald Reagan’s final State of the Union address, he noisily dropped on a table next to the podium in the House chamber three recent continuing resolutions, each more than a thousand pages long. Each was evidence of Congress’ disregard of the 1974 Budget Act. Reagan fumed:
“Budget deadlines delayed or missed completely, monstrous continuing resolutions that pack hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of spending into one bill, and a federal government on the brink of default. … In seven years, of 91 appropriations bills scheduled to arrive on my desk by a certain date, only 10 made it on time. Last year, of the 13 appropriations bills due by October first, none of them made it. Instead, we had four continuing resolutions lasting 41 days, then 36 days, and two days, and three days, respectively. And then, along came these (three) behemoths.”
Reagan might have been less cross if there had not then been Democratic majorities in the House (258-177) and Senate (55-45). Today, however, Republicans have both political branches in their hands. How are they doing with the government’s basic business — budgeting and appropriating? James Arkin, a congressional reporter for Real Clear Politics, recently wrote a four-part dissection of Congress’ ongoing dereliction:
Neither the House nor the Senate has passed the fiscal 2018 budget resolution that the Budget Act of 1974 stipulates should have been acted by April 15. Neither chamber has passed any of the 12 appropriations bills that are supposed to be passed by the Oct. 1 beginning of the fiscal year. On-time passage of the appropriations bills has not happened since 1996. Continuing resolutions involving “hundreds of billions of dollars’ worth of spending” that annoyed Reagan three decades ago have become continuing resolutions involving more than a trillion — not counting the two-thirds of government spending (e.g., entitlements, debt service) that happens without congressional involvement. As Arkin’s analysis was appearing, the Social Security and Medicare trustees projected the former’s insolvency in 2034 and the latter’s in 2029.
