FEDERAL SHUTDOWNS MUST STOP

The most important piece of legislation our country needs is a law that prevents the government from shutting down.

Interestingly, there is some movement by congress to end government shutdowns.
That’s led to a flurry of bills aimed at outlawing government shutdowns amid concerns that a president, at odds with Congress, could use the tactic capriciously - at the expense of closing the government and hurting hundreds of thousands of federal workers.*

I don't know why, but people concentrate on the Federal workers laid off in a shutdown when most government business is done by contractors so at least as many contractors as Civil Servants are also laid off.  And others get hurt as well such as mom and pop stores and even corporate profits as well as progress.

One proposal gaining the most momentum comes from Sen. Rob Portman. The Ohio Republican introduced the "End Government Shutdowns Act" earlier this year. It was the fifth time he's tried to permanently prevent government shutdowns, but this time around, Portman has garnered 19 co-sponsors just among his GOP colleagues, with Democrats clamoring to sign on as well, according to a Portman spokesman. Perhaps most notably, two of the four GOP negotiators tapped to hammer out a government funding compromise by Feb. 15 have signed on to Portman's effort.*

Under Portman's bill, if Congress fails to pass any of the 12 appropriations bills that fund the government each year, the measure would create an automatic continuing resolution, or stopgap funding bill – which would fund the government at the previous year’s levels. To motivate congressional action, it would also continually reduce federal spending levels with across-the-board cuts while any budget impasse dragged on.*

Sen. Warner (VA) has also introduced a bill that would fund all of the government except for the Executive and congressional branches.  In addition, the bill would have forced across the board cuts as time wares on to force the government to act.  I think this bill would be more effective than Portman's but is less likely to pass.  The Warner bill is also supported by fellow Democrat Rep. Gerry Connolly and even House Minority Leader Rep. Kevin McCarthy (CA)

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif, favors a 2011 proposal introduced by former Rep. Dale Kildee, to extend funding at previous levels until some sort of deal is reached.  I feel that Congress would like this one because then we would just have government by continuing resolution and they would never fund appropriations.

Then there is a proposal by some House Democrats called the “Shutdown to End All Shutdowns Act" This bill would also fund the government at the current level during a shutdown.  It would also hit congress and the executive branch where it hurts by prohibiting federal funds for officials well as keep Congress in session travel.  a weakness in this act is there is an exception for emergencies.

Any bill that contains a continuing Resolution might be attractive to Republicans because it would keep costs down, though I am not sure of this.  An example of this was called the Sequestration Transparency Act under Pres. Obama in which there were forced budget cuts, including the military.  Democrats thought that Republicans would never vote for such a law that reduced the military budget, but they "fooled 'em."  More Republicans voted for the Act than Democrats.**

Of all the options so far, I favor the one by Sen. Warner.  Any proposal that contains a continuing resolution is dangerous, except if the CR funded the budget by some automatic amount, like 5 or 10%.  Alas, no one is proposing this.

* https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/ban-government-shutdowns-republicans-democrats-make-law/story?id=60724848
** https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2013/02/05/who-is-responsible-for-the-sequester/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.45e127335d53