Past Government Shutdowns: Key Resources

[Excerpt] When federal government agencies and programs lack budget authority, they experience a “funding gap.” Under the Antideficiency Act (31 U.S.C. § 1341 et seq.), they must cease operations, except in certain circumstances. When there is a funding gap that affects many federal entities, the situation is often referred to as a government shutdown. In the past, there have occasionally been government shutdowns, the longest of which lasted 21 days, from December 16, 1995, to January 6, 1996. This report provides an annotated list of historical documents and other resources related to several past government shutdowns. The report also includes links to full-text documents when available. There is limited information and guidance related to shutdowns, and it is difficult to predict what might happen in the event of one, but information about past events may help inform future deliberations. This report will be updated as additional resources are identified

Shutdown of the Federal Government: Causes, Processes, and Effects

[Excerpt] When federal agencies and programs lack appropriated funding, they experience a funding gap. Under the Antideficiency Act, they must cease operations, except in certain emergency situations or when law authorizes continued activity. Failure of the President and Congress to reach agreement on interim or full-year funding measures occasionally has caused government shutdowns, the longest of which lasted 21 days, from December 16, 1995, to January 6, 1996. Government shutdowns have necessitated furloughs of several hundred thousand federal employees, required cessation or reduction of many government activities, and affected numerous sectors of the economy. This report discusses the causes, processes, and effects of federal government shutdowns, including potential issues for Congress

Vote Forecasting Using Multi-Objective Decision Analysis

In December 2018, the United States Federal Government began what would become the longest government shutdown in U.S. history. This was the 21st shutdown since the adoption of the current appropriations process and 4th of the last decade. These shutdowns occur after government departments and agencies submit budget requests to Congress and the legislature is unable to come to an agreement to pass an appropriations bill. There is no clear solution to this problem. But this study hypothesizes that government departments and agencies could benefit from considering the political viability of their own budget requests prior to submitting them to Congress. In the field of decision analysis, no prior research was found for assessing the political viability of alternatives. This work theorizes and tests a novel methodology for vote forecasting using the results of a multi-objective decision analysis and comparing alternatives against the status quo. A model scenario is set forth of Customs and Border Protection submitting a funding request for additional technologies to secure the United States-Mexico border. The funding request is sent to a voting body of 20 decision makers from 2 different political parties. A total of 20 funding proposal alternatives are assessed according to the individual preferences of 20 decision makers and votes are forecasted using the results. The experiment with the model scenario made a clear distinction between alternatives with higher and lower levels of political viability. The study contributes a repeatable methodology that can be used for future research in real-life scenarios

Unemployment Insurance: Legislative Issues in the 116th Congress

The unemployment insurance (UI) system has two primary objectives: (1) to provide temporary, partial wage replacement for involuntarily unemployed workers and (2) to stabilize the economy during recessions. In support of these goals, several UI programs provide benefits for eligible unemployed worker

Assistance to Firefighters Program: Distribution of Fire Grant Funding

[Excerpt] Firefighting activities are traditionally the responsibility of states and local communities. As such, funding for firefighters is provided mostly by state and local governments. During the 1990s, shortfalls in state and local budgets, coupled with increased responsibilities of local fire departments, led many in the fire community to call for additional financial support from the federal government. Although federally funded training programs existed (and continue to exist) through the National Fire Academy, and although federal money was available to first responders for counterterrorism training and equipment through the Department of Justice, there did not exist a dedicated program, exclusively for firefighters, which provided federal money directly to local fire departments to help address a wide variety of equipment, training, and other firefighter-related needs

Funding Gaps and Government Shutdowns: CRS Experts

[Excerpt] In the event of a funding gap, the potential impacts of a government shutdown will depend on a program’s or agency’s specific circumstances and how relevant law is interpreted. The following table provides names and contact information for CRS experts on policy concerns relating to funding gaps and the processes and effects that may be associated with a government shutdown. Policy areas identified include • cross-cutting shutdown issues; • domestic social policy-related programs and agencies; • foreign affairs, defense, and trade-related programs and agencies; • general government-related programs and agencies; and • resources, science, and technology-related programs and agencies

Factors Assocated with Employee Satisfaction in Minnesota Community Action Agencies

In 2011, the state of Minnesota faced a difficult budgetary decision. At the time of this writing, the state HHS budget had been vetoed by the Governor and State Employees were preparing for a government shutdown. Disagreement between the Republican majority and the Democratic Governor on how to balance the state budget had serious implications for Community Action Agencies that received, on average, 10% of their annual funding from the State of Minnesota in 2010 (MNCAP, 2010). Considering the fact that budget cuts would be imminent, and raises and bonuses unlikely, the researcher wanted to provide CAAs of MN with information that might assist with recruitment and retention of its workforce based on what current employees identify as being satisfied or dissatisfied with in their current place of employment. Research Question: What do employees of Minnesota Community Action Agencies report as factors associated with their job satisfaction

The Cost of Crisis-Driven Fiscal Policy

Current fiscal policy is unsustainable and large, prospective deficits and debt, driven by "mandatory" spending on social benefits for the aging population and insufficient revenues, pose an eventual threat to the U.S. economy. Yet partisan divided government has failed to address this long-run problem sensibly, instead encouraging policy that is short-sighted, arbitrary, and driven by calendar-based crises. These policies have: · Saddled a still-struggling economy with the "fiscal drag" of a contraction in discretionary spending. · Created general uncertainty about fiscal policy that, through its impact on financial markets, has undermined economic growth. · Forced the first prolonged shutdown of the federal government since the first term of the Clinton Administration. · Failed to raise the federal debt ceiling in a timely manner, conjuring the specter of a sovereign default, with all its financial and economic fallout. Results developed here suggest that the recent fiscal drag, in combination with heightened fiscal uncertainty, has slowed the annualized rate of growth in the nation's Gross Domestic Product by as much as 1 percentage point since 2010. And while the government shutdown is, for now, more economic inconvenience than catastrophe, the consequences stemming from the failure to increase the debt ceiling could cause the next recession, even if the U.S. does not default on its debt

Attempting an Affirmative Approach to American Broadcasting: Ideology, Politics, and the Public Telecommunications Facilities Program

The Public Telecommunications Facilities Program (PTFP) was the largest source of capital funding for U.S. public broadcasters for nearly fifty years. Between 1963 and 2010, the PTFP distributed more than $800 million to support the construction of public broadcasting facilities. Though the PTFP itself was generally noncontroversial, the fortunes of the program were complicated by the partisan politics of public broadcasting and federal fiscal policy. This study provides evidence of the ambiguous and contingent nature of the American approach to public broadcasting, and demonstrates some of the problems associated with affirmative efforts by government to advance public communication

Reindustrialization From Below: The Steel Valley Authority

[Excerpt] Trade unionists and community residents determined to save the Monongahela Valley have succeeded in forging an effective instrument for waging their struggle. In January 1986 the Steel Valley Authority was officially incorporated by the State of Pennsylvania. Its board includes representatives of nine municipalities, including the city of Pittsburgh. In the months since the Authority was launched, its power, including the power of eminent domain, has been used to pressure corporations not to abandon manufacturing plants in the Mon Valley region. The fight to reindustrialize the Pittsburgh area is fairly joined, and victory is a real possibility. It took nearly five years of education and patient organizing to establish the Steel Valley Authority (SVA). Other communities around the country, suffering similar problems of capital flight, have much to learn from the story of the campaign to establish the SVA. But the most important lessons are easy to tell: You can win community support for the idea that deindustrialization is not inevitable. You can mount a viable struggle to preserve your community\u27s industrial base. In this article, I will describe our five-year campaign to win public support for our approach to reindustrialization