The government funding process is broken. The legislative relationship between Republicans and Democrats in Congress is near an all-time low. And the rescission bill has only made it worse.
“I just can’t imagine that we’re going to get an appropriations package done,” Sen. Thom Tillis said regarding the Sept. 30 deadline for government funding. “It’s probably going to have to be maybe an omni or something year-end. But sadly for Susan Collins, who’s really had a great record of trying to do that, I just don’t think it’s in the cards.”
The government appropriations process has been filled with problems for years. Congress hasn’t passed all 12 appropriations bills since 1997. Funding is instead deployed almost exclusively through stopgap bills or huge deals, almost always passed at the last minute — sometimes after the last minute, when a shutdown has already taken place.