Remembrance of October 1’s Past
Let me know if you have heard this one before:
Congress has a seemingly straightforward task—temporary level funding in the absence of enacted appropriations bills.
The siren song of must-pass legislation calls, drawing poison pill amendments, and tying Congress in knots
As the deadline nears, a CR is rushed through in time to avoid a shutdown
The terms of the CR were wholly predictable weeks before.
As this is being written, Congress is in mid-drama. None of the actors have uttered a single line that does not have an equivalent in scripts from prior years.
Senate Minority Leader McConnell—a veteran of many October 1’s—must have been sighing deeply when he told a reporter: “the one thing you cannot have is a government shutdown. It would be politically beyond stupid for us to do that right before the election because certainly we would get the blame...We've been here before. I'm for whatever avoids the government shutdown…."
Given the certainty of a clean CR—essentially a short-term “standstill agreement”—why go through all the hullabaloo?
I am okay if you want to answer: because politicians cannot help themselves. A more specific answer might be: legislators cannot resist offering amendments to “must pass legislation.”
In the life of a Congress, such occasions are very visible but not very frequent. Each time one occurs, Members and political parties have to ask themselves: is this the vehicle by which I can move X into law? Or create visibility to support the passage of X at a later time? Is this potentially my last chance?
Health policy and FDA regulation is an exception. Since the 1992 passage of the Prescription Drug User Fee Agreement (PDUFA), we have been assured of at least one must-pass legislative vehicle every 5 years.
To a lesser extent, agriculture and feeding programs can also be assured of must-pass legislation. However, as we have seen through the last few cycles, there is nothing that guarantees a Farm bill becoming law every five years.
The primary legislative vehicles that Congress “must pass” on a regular basis are: funding bills, continuing resolutions, budget agreements, and national debt ceiling extensions. In the context of those bills, Members consider every issue to be relevant, and Members are most likely to dig in their heels seeing it as their best chance to move their issue forward.
In a year when appropriations bills have not been enacted and a CR is needed by October 1 (which is most years), it is a horrible waste of time and energy for September to be consumed with shutdown brinkmanship.
Oddly, I have some sympathy for Speaker Johnson. He has to tell various segments of his rank and file that “another day” and “another must-pass bill” is where they need to take their concerns. So – frustrating as it is – the lengthy build-up to the October 1 CR often serves political and legislative purposes.
Just as the process has been predictable to this point, a CR will almost certainly become law before October 1.
However, if leadership and appropriators don’t force that conclusion, there are always some Members who would happily force a shutdown to move their cause.
Editorial Note:
The Analysis and Commentary section is written by Steven Grossman, Executive Director of the Alliance for a Stronger FDA.