Government Shutdown? Federal Budget Closer To Reality
When this story was originally published we asked, would the federal government make its deadlines to avoid part one of a phased-in government shutdown on February 19, 2024?
No. The House and Senate did not approve a full-year spending package for the VA and military construction projects until March 2024. The story below is preserved here for archival purposes. The spending bills that first threatened a government shutdown have since been passed into law, signed by President Joe Biden on March 9, 2024.
Government Shutdown?
Washington’s first full weekend of 2024 brought good news and bad news, indicating that, in spite of an initial agreement over the federal budget’s total price tag, a shutdown may be unavoidable due to irrelevant culture war distractions and partisan bickering among fringe factions in the House of Representatives.
The Initial Deal
The agreement was for a maximum of just under $2 trillion, the amount the President and the Speaker of the House agreed to last year. The budget includes approximately $886 billion in defense money and just over $7 billion for non-defense spending. The fact that the House and Senate have reconciled these dollar amounts means the negotiations move to the next state, where the House and Senate debate how to spend that money.
Related: GI Bill Benefits
Does this mean the federal budget has been settled?
No. The agreement here is only the basic framework. The federal budget may have an overall dollar amount now, but where and when to spend the money is still up for grabs. Those upper limits of government spending for 2024 are what have been agreed upon. But that’s where the entire system could break down.
Forward Progress? Not So Fast
CNN reported on Monday January 8, 2024, about Congress working over the first full weekend of the year to reach this overall agreement on the final cost of the 2024 federal budget.
That move was hailed on CNN as, “a major step toward averting a partial shutdown that is set to begin later this month.” But that step forward might not be enough. Why? Some lawmakers still want to push their culture war hobby horses into the federal budget. The House succeeded in getting budget cuts applied to the IRS, but there are many other issues to debate. And House factions seem bent on confrontation over those finer points of the budget no matter what the consequences for those in uniform.
Serve The Troops First
The basic problem with that approach, in the eyes of some? Americans find themselves living in an era where two major conflicts threaten to destabilize large portions of the globe, where domestic inflation and the threat of a recession are very real problems.
Americans are living in a time when, in addition to all this, those who have signed on the dotted line to serve their country have to live in mold-infested barracks, apply for supplemental assistance for food, and struggle to find child and healthcare in some cases.
Some get very angry at lawmakers who place more of their focus on whether or not there is a drag queen event on a military base somewhere than the very real problems listed above. These people seem to want the culture war arguments to happen AFTER the government is fully funded, and when troops no longer have to live in toxic family housing. Unreasonable?
Related: GI Bill Benefits
How a Government Shutdown Hurts Military Families
No matter which side of any of the issues mentioned above you fall on, there’s a real education to be had by taking a quick look at what happens to military families if the culture war issues become more important than avoiding a shutdown.
Federal News Network reports, “A third of military families have less than $3,000 in savings. This is often not enough for the expenses of life: Rent, mortgages, bills, gas, groceries, and childcare.”
Federal News Network reports approximately two-thirds of military families are living paycheck-to-paycheck. A government shutdown can delay payment to these troops, upsetting any delicate balance they have managed to eke out while still living payday to payday.
Federal Times says, “The looming government shutdown could further the financial strain on military families.” Do lawmakers really want to take food off the tables of these military families because some won’t set partisanship aside in favor of an agreement on a basic financial issue like an organizational budget?
The Future of the Federal Budget
Will the House and Senate reach a deal despite some major disagreements in how to proceed? The House’s contribution to the initial agreement included a $10 billion cut to IRS funding and a move to get back some $6 billion in funds for COVID-19.
According to CNN, the House Speaker acknowledged that a faction in his party would not like the deal but “the agreement would allow the funding process to move forward while allowing negotiators to “reprioritize funding within the topline towards conservative objectives.”
Whether those objectives stay on task and on target with the actual business of the federal government remains to be seen.
Related: GI Bill Benefits
About the author
Editor-in-Chief Joe Wallace is a 13-year veteran of the United States Air Force and a former reporter/editor for Air Force Television News and the Pentagon Channel. His freelance work includes contract work for Motorola, VALoans.com, and Credit Karma. He is co-founder of Dim Art House in Springfield, Illinois, and spends his non-writing time as an abstract painter, independent publisher, and occasional filmmaker.
