Even a government non-shutdown comes with serious costs
Even a government non-shutdown comes with serious costs
Once again, Congress has just barely figured out a way to keep the government funded — at least for the next month and a half. So no partial government shutdown or lapse in appropriations, as it’s officially called.
But that doesn’t mean all this brinkmanship isn’t still costing you and me — the taxypayers — a lot of money.
As much as federal workers may be sighing in relief that their paychecks are safe for now, Jennifer Victor, who teaches political science at George Mason University, said those same workers haven’t had a productive last few weeks.
“Every time we get close to one of these government shutdown deadlines, they basically have to stop doing their real jobs for the week, or two or three in advance of that deadline, and start preparing for a shutdown,” she said.
And that’s expensive, said Maya MacGuineas, who runs the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
“We know this is not just millions of dollars, this is probably hundreds of millions of dollars that it actually ends up costing,” she said.
MacGuineas also pointed out that the continuing resolution isn’t exactly a win either. The CR keeps funding at around the same levels as the previous year while we, in theory, wait for Congress to pass a real spending package.
“Clearly, the moment we’re in requires very different thinking in terms of national defense, where the risks are, what our national priorities are,” MacGuineas said. “We should not be saying, ‘let’s not look at the details of the budget, not figure out our priorities and set new broad budgets.'”
That being said, there have been a lot of almost-shutdowns in recent years.
“It could be that many of these federal agencies, have, for lack of a better term, this preparation down pat, which may reduce the costs,” said Jasmine Farrier, a political science professor at the University of Louisville.
“On the other hand, the confidence in the government and of course, in the ability of Congress to fulfill its constitutional duties is a cost that is very hard to estimate,” she said.
And that’s the cost that has George Mason University’s Jennifer Victor most worried.
She said this repeated erosion of public confidence in the government “probably, in some way, contributes to some other challenges that we have in the United States right now.”
Like the overall negativity Victor says is dominating our electoral politics.
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