Clinton T. Brass
Analyst in Government Organization and Management
When federal agencies and programs lack appropriated funding, they experience a funding gap. Under the Antideficiency Act, they must cease operations, except in emergency situations. 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.
For questions concerning the impact of a shutdown on a specific agency or program, congressional operations, or judicial operations, see the contact information contained in the “Key Policy Staff” table at the end of this report.
For background on funding gaps, see CRS Report RS20348, Federal Funding Gaps: A Brief Overview, by Jessica Tollestrup.
Date of Report: March 11, 2011
Number of Pages: 14
Order Number: RL34680
Price: $29.95
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R. Eric Petersen
Specialist in American National Government
R. Sam Garrett
Analyst in American National Government
Erin Hemlin
Research Associate
Pursuant to House Rule X, clause 6, the Committee on House Administration reports an omnibus, biennial “primary expense resolution” to cover the expenses of each standing and select committee, except the Appropriations Committee. The resolution is based, in part, on committee requests for funds to cover their necessary expenses for the two years of a Congress.
This report provides committee funding requests and authorizations for House committees in the 104th-111th Congresses.
This report will be updated at the conclusion of House committee funding activity in the 112th Congress.
Date of Report: March 11, 2011
Number of Pages: 23
Order Number: RL32794
Price: $29.95
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Jessica Tollestrup
Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process
Continuing appropriations acts, commonly known as continuing resolutions, which provide interim funding in the event that regular appropriations have not been enacted, have been an integral component of the annual appropriations process for decades. Whenever action on one or more of the regular appropriations acts for a fiscal year is incomplete, one issue that arises is the appropriate duration of any period for which continuing resolutions will be used.
Continuing resolutions may have a relatively short duration in the expectation that action on the regular appropriations acts will be concluded within several days or weeks. Alternatively, continuing resolutions may have a longer duration to postpone final action on appropriations decisions until after elections or into the beginning of the next congressional session. Finally, a continuing resolution may provide funding for the remainder of the fiscal year.
The duration of a continuing resolution refers to the period for which continuing appropriations are made available for the use of agencies. (Legislative provisions, as opposed to funding provisions, contained in a continuing resolution may remain in effect for a longer period, even as permanent law.) The period ends either upon enactment of the applicable regular appropriations act or on an expiration date specified in the continuing resolution, whichever occurs first.
Over the past half century, the timing patterns for congressional action on regular appropriations acts have varied considerably, but tardy enactment has been a recurring problem. During the 59- year period covering FY1952-FY2010, all of the regular appropriations acts were enacted on time in only four instances (FY1977, FY1989, FY1995, and FY1997). No continuing resolutions were enacted for three of these fiscal years, but continuing resolutions were enacted for FY1977 to fund certain unauthorized programs whose funding had been dropped from the regular appropriations acts. Further, no continuing resolutions were enacted for FY1953 even though all but one of the regular appropriations were enacted late.
Full-year continuing resolutions provide funding for one or more of the regular appropriations acts for the remainder of the fiscal year. While Congress has employed full-year continuing resolutions on many occasions, it has not done so consistently over time. For each of the 11 fiscal years covering FY1978-FY1988, Congress enacted a full-year continuing resolution. Three years later, Congress enacted another full-year continuing resolution, for FY1992. Most recently, a fullyear continuing resolution was enacted for FY2007.
During the past 13 fiscal years (FY1998-FY2010), Congress provided funding under continuing resolutions for an average each year of nearly four months (111.5 days). The period for which continuing appropriations were provided in these 13 years ranged from 21 days to 365 days. On average, each of the 79 continuing resolutions enacted during this period lasted for about 18 days.
Action on FY2011 appropriations is not yet complete. As of the date of this report, six continuing resolutions have been utilized to provide stopgap budget authority in the absence of annual appropriations. The data in this report will be updated to include all of the continuing resolutions enacted for FY2011 once the annual appropriations process has been concluded. For detailed information on the FY2011 continuing resolutions, see CRS Report RL30343, Continuing Resolutions: Latest Action and Brief Overview of Recent Practices, by Sandy Streeter.
Date of Report: March 22, 2011
Number of Pages: 21
Order Number: RL32614
Price: $29.95
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James V. Saturno
Section Research Manager
Article I, Section 7, clause 1 of the U.S. Constitution is known as the Origination Clause because it provides that “All Bills for raising Revenue shall originate in the House of Representatives.” The meaning and application of this clause has evolved through practice and precedent since the Constitution was drafted.
The Constitution does not provide specific guidelines as to what constitutes a “bill for raising revenue.” This report analyzes congressional and court precedents regarding what constitutes such a bill. The precedents and practices of the House apply a broad standard and construe the House’s prerogatives broadly to include any “meaningful revenue proposal.” This standard is based on whether the measure in question has revenue-affecting potential, and not simply whether it would raise or lower revenues directly. As a result, the House includes within the definition of revenue legislation not only direct changes in the tax code, but also any fees paid to the government that are not payments for a specific service, and any change in import restrictions, because of the potential impact on tariff revenues. The precedents of the Senate reflect a similar understanding. The Supreme Court has occasionally ruled on Origination Clause matters, adopting a definition of revenue bills that is based on two central principles that tend to narrow its application to fewer classes of legislation than the House: (1) raising money must be the primary purpose of the measure, rather than an incidental effect; and (2) the resulting funds must be for the expenses or obligations of the government generally, rather than a single, specific purpose.
Second, this report describes the various ways in which the Origination Clause has been enforced. Given the fact that originating revenue measures is the House’s prerogative, it falls to the House to enforce this provision of the Constitution most frequently. The House’s primary method for enforcement is through a process known as “blue-slipping.” Blue-slipping is the term applied to the act of returning to the Senate a measure that the House has determined violates its prerogatives. This is done by voting on a privileged resolution. Less typically, the House may choose to enforce its prerogative by taking no action on the disputed Senate measure, or referring it to committee. The Senate may also address whether a measure contravenes the Origination Clause. As with any question of constitutionality, it may be submitted directly to the Senate for its determination. Such a question would be debatable and decided by majority vote. The Supreme Court has a role in enforcing the Origination Clause as well, as it would in any question of constitutionality.
Finally, this report looks at the application of the Origination Clause to other types of legislation. It examines precedents concerning public debt legislation, as well as the unanswered question of whether the Origination Clause grants the House the exclusive prerogative to originate bills to appropriate money, as well as to raise revenues.
Date of Report: March 15, 2011
Number of Pages: 20
Order Number: RL31399
Price: $29.95
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Sandy Streeter
Analyst on Congress and the Legislative Process
Most routine operations of federal departments and agencies are funded each year through the enactment of 12 regular appropriations acts. Because these bills are annual, expiring at the end of the fiscal year (September 30), regular appropriations bills for the subsequent fiscal year must be enacted by October 1. Final action on most regular appropriations bills, however, is frequently delayed beyond the start of the fiscal year. When this occurs, the affected departments and agencies are generally funded under temporary continuing appropriations acts until the final funding decisions become law. Because continuing appropriations acts are generally enacted in the form of joint resolutions, such acts are referred to as continuing resolutions (or CRs).
CRs may be divided into two categories based on duration—those that provide interim (or temporary) funding and those that provide funds through the end of the fiscal year. Interim continuing resolutions provide funding until a specific date or until the enactment of the applicable regular appropriations acts, if earlier. Full-year continuing resolutions provide funding in lieu of one or more regular appropriations bills through the end of the fiscal year.
Over the past 35 years, the nature, scope, and duration of continuing resolutions gradually expanded. From the early 1970s through 1987, CRs gradually expanded from being used to provide interim funding measures of comparatively brief duration and length to measures providing funding through the end of the fiscal year. The full-year measures included, in some cases, the full text of one or more regular appropriations bills and contained substantive legislation (i.e., provisions under the jurisdiction of committees other than the House and Senate Appropriations Committees). Since 1988, continuing resolutions have primarily been interim funding measures, and included major legislation less frequently.
In certain years, delay in the enactment of regular appropriations measures and CRs has led to periods during which appropriations authority has lapsed. Such periods generally are referred to as funding gaps.
Since Congress and the President have not completed action on any of the 12 FY2011 regular appropriations acts, several FY2011 interim CRs have been enacted or are being considered to provide more time to resolve differences within Congress and between Congress and the President. In 2010, Congress enacted four FY2011 interim CRs that sequentially extended funding from October 1, 2010, through March 4, 2011 (P.L. 111-242, P.L. 111-290, P.L. 111-317, and P.L. 111-322). These acts maintained funding at generally FY2010 discretionary spending levels. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates the total annualized non-emergency discretionary spending level provided in these CRs at $1,087 billion, in budget authority (or BA). On March 2, 2011, President Barack H. Obama signed a fifth FY2011 interim CR, P.L. 112-4, which CBO estimates reduces the previous level by $4 billion, in BA. The act also extends funding through March 18, 2011. On March 15, 2011, the House adopted a sixth temporary CR, H.J.Res. 48 (112th Congress), which would extend funding through April 8, 2011, and reduce the level provided in 2010 by an additional $6 billion, in BA.
On February 19, 2011, the House adopted a FY2011 full-year CR, H.R. 1 (112th Congress); on March 9, 2011, the Senate rejected the measure.
Date of Report: March 16, 2011
Number of Pages: 20
Order Number: RL30343
Price: $29.95
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