The leader of the minority Democrats in the United States Senate, Charles Schumer, D-New York, has quietly but effectively aided the Republicans on an important spending vote, and thereby increased his own standing and perhaps the prospects of his beleaguered party.
Ten Senate Democrats led by Schumer joined with Republicans to pass a stopgap spending bill on March 14 that averts a shutdown and guarantees that the U.S. government will continue to operate through the end of September.
The threat of the government shutting down is an ongoing problem dating from the administration of President Jimmy Carter. Before 1980, the expiration of appropriations legislation did not disrupt government functions. Politicians worked things out, flexibly, pragmatically and behind the scenes.
Then, during the Carter years, curious U.S. Rep. Gladys Noon Spellman, D-Maryland, inquired about the 1884 Antideficiency Act, which prohibits spending public funds without congressional authorization. Able Elmer Staats, comptroller general, head of Congress’ audit arm, responded with the opinion that Congress did not intend work to cease when an appropriation ended.
However, Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti disagreed. He declared agencies must close when funding ends.
Crises have regularly followed.
The congresswoman’s request for opinions arose in connection with funding for the Federal Trade Commission. That agency shut down briefly in May of 1980. While the doors soon reopened and employees returned to work, the resulting disruption continued long after that.
There were three shutdowns of the federal government during the administration of Ronald Reagan, and one under George H.W. Bush.
In 1994, Republicans took control of the U.S. House of Representatives after 40 years in minority status. Their majority was led by new Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich, R-Georgia, who dramatically accelerated the trend of shifting that office from a relatively nonpartisan to highly partisan pulpit.
White House Democrats and congressional Republicans played an escalating game of budgetary chicken. The federal government was shut down briefly. In the political and public media maneuvering, President Bill Clinton was able to put the onus squarely on the Gingrich Republicans.
Publicly cool and politically cunning, Clinton moved ahead in the public opinion polls. He was helped by emphasizing fiscal restraint. In the 1996 presidential election, he defeated Republican nominee Sen. Bob Dole, R-Kansas.
In 2013, Republicans managed to shut down the government for 16 days as part of the effort to derail the Affordable Care Act. Then as before, Democrats, led by President Barack Obama, used the Republican effort for partisan political advantage.
Along with Sen. Schumer, Speaker of the House of Representatives Mike Johnson, R-Lousiana, deserves credit for maintaining relative stability, conducting business in an orderly manner and avoiding intense partisan vitriol.
Johnson has only been in the speakership since October 2023, but so far has generally managed to avoid the turmoil that characterized the relatively brief tenures of predecessors Paul Ryan, R-Wisconsin, and John Boehner, R-Ohio.
Resolution of intense congressional conflicts over spending that have led to shutdowns is aided, indirectly but powerfully, by the evidence of public unhappiness with the practice of not handling appropriations in an orderly, adult manner.
Democrat Sam Rayburn of Texas remains distinctive as a remarkably durable speaker of the House. From the 1940s into the 1960s, he successfully led the House, despite the difficult politics of that era.
Rayburn holds the record for longest service as speaker, reflecting his exceptionally effective pragmatic political skills.
Speaker Johnson and Sen. Schumer demonstrate similar skills, something that is now more important than ever.
Arthur I. Cyr is the author of “After the Cold War – American Foreign Policy, Europe and Asia” (Palgrave/Macmillan and NYU Press).
Contact him at acyr@carthage.edu
