The Trick Lawmakers Use to Hide Their Wasteful Spending

[Geee]

Heritage Foundation:

Imagine, for a moment, that you’re running a restaurant (and if you are already, congratulations). Imagine, further, that every month you serve more and more of your food, but never restock the groceries, and never come up with a plan to buy more. At some point, your restaurant is going to hit a wall: You’ll need to restock everything, all at once, for a massive sum of money, lest you go out of business.

 

Believe it or not, that’s pretty much the way Congress routinely funds the federal government.

 

The Congressional Budget Act of 1974 requires the legislative and the executive branches to agree upon a dozen different appropriations bills before the end of the fiscal year, Sept. 30. And year after year, they have failed to meet this deadline.

 

So, Congress often turns to a short-term patch, known as a continuing resolution, to fund the government until reconvening in January. And just as frequently, these continuing resolution bills not only fail to address wasteful spending, but break through existing spending caps, put our government on an unsustainable course, and help repeat the cycle next year.