Congress Again Abdicates its Primary Responsibility

During election years, "October surprise" is used to describe a game-changing event that could determine the outcome of the elections. But something that will never be a surprise in an election year or any other year is Congress's failure to enact all 12 appropriations bills on time. In the last 50 years, Congress passed all the required appropriations bills on time only in fiscal years (FY) 1977, 1989, 1995, and 1997.

The power of the purse is provided to Congress under Article I, Section 9 of the Constitution, which states, "no money shall be drawn from the Treasury, but in Consequence of Appropriations made by Law; and a regular Statement and Account of the Receipts and Expenditures of all public Money shall be published from time to time." The Founding Fathers recognized the separation of powers meant that the branch of government most directly responsive to the people should be responsible for spending their money and overseeing how the executive branch follows their directives.

Congress's inaction on the appropriations bills keeps current spending levels in place, which makes it more difficult to both cut government spending and give federal agencies the ability to effectively carry out their mission. Congress should recommit to upholding its core constitutional powers and make passing the appropriations bills on time a top priority.

The House of Representatives tried to get the job done by getting all 12 bills passed by the House Appropriations Committee and seven passed on the floor of the House. There was far less activity on the other side of the Capitol, where the Senate Appropriations Committee passed 11 of 12 spending bills, but none received a vote on the Senate floor. To avoid a government shutdown when FY 2025 began on October 1, 2024, a three-month CR was passed on September 25, 2024, to keep the government open until December 20, 2024. While it is important to keep the government open, the path forward on funding in December is unclear.

Failure to pass appropriations bills bleeds over to other legislation. Congress was forced to enact a one-year extension of the Farm Bill instead of the typical five-year authorization and will likely have to pass another one-year reauthorization before the end of the year if a full five- year reauthorization package is not brought to the House and Senate floors for a vote.

The perpetually delayed appropriations process has especially negative consequences for the Department of Defense (DOD). The DOD's procurement process is largely dependent on multi-year contracts, which are intended to help the procurement process for weapons systems and other equipment run efficiently.

Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall's November 30, 2023, letter to Senate Appropriations Committee Chair Patty Murray (D-Wash.) noted that a year-long CR would reduce the Air Force's buying power by as much as $13 billion. Passing stopgap spending bills also has a chilling effect on defense contractors, who may face stop-work orders and be forced to lay off workers due to the uncertainty of the timing and reimbursement of their work. Effective and timely procurement and development of new systems is vital to national security and continual CRs could lead to devastating downstream effects.

Another fiscal new year has come and gone, and Congress has yet again failed to pass the appropriations bills on time. Congressional reliance on CRs makes conducting oversight more difficult and has negative effects on all federal agencies, including those responsible for helping citizens affected by Hurricanes Helene and Milton. While the results of the November elections and which party will have control of Congress are not known, whichever party is in power should make it a priority to finish the appropriations process on time.

The power of appropriations is one of the most basic and vital responsibilities that the Constitution gives to Congress. Members of Congress must commit themselves to living up to this responsibility and finishing the appropriations process on time.