Picture of the Eisenhower Executive Office Building (EEOB) where most White House Staff work.

This beautiful picture  is courtesy of Annika Beall

This episode, as its title implies, is all about the American government shutting down. In the episode, the Speaker reneges on a deal for a continuing resolution to cut spending by one percent, demanding they cut three percent. The President is unwilling to accept that, and they are unwilling to reach an agreement by midnight, causing the government to be shut down. President Bartlet and his staff then spend the rest of the episode trying to get a new continuing resolution passed. Thanks to some political stunts, the President is able to get not just a continuing resolution, but a new budget.

As Vice President Russell points out in the episode, constitutionally it is Congress that creates the budget and the President only has the power to choose whether to sign it or veto it. Because of The Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, the President is also responsible for submitting a bidet proposal to Congress. The President in practice also has large power over the budget because as leader of his party he has a large sway over his party’s members in Congress.

In the United States, the budget is the big project that Congress and the President work together on each year. Because of this, Congress members often use the budget process to make headway on their own issues, threatening not to vote to pass the budget unless they get what they want. As we become more divided, these tactics have been used more and more, making it harder to get a budget passed. Oftentimes when Congress can not get a budget passed, they will pass a Continuing Resolution, which temporarily funds the government until an agreed upon time. Multiple continuing resolutions can be passed until the President and Congress can agree on a budget. Continuing resolutions have become extremely common, in fact, we have been operating on continuing resolutions since September 30th.

When Congress does not pass a budget or a continuing resolution, the government shuts down. When the government shuts down, departments end all non-essential discretionary functions until Congress approves their budget. This means that when shutdowns happen non-essential government employees are furloughed; national parks, monuments, and museums close; federal research projects can be delayed, and IRS taxpayer services can be suspended. Other programs like SNAP, passport and visa issuance, and student loan payments have reserves of funding but may run out of them if the shutdown goes on too long. 

The United States is the only country in the world that has this process where the government shuts down. When other countries can’t pass a budget in time they simply continue using the previous year’s budget assuming that funding will eventually come, the same thing the US used to do before the 1980s. However, in the 1980s the Antideficiency Act, which was originally enacted in 1884, was interpreted more strictly, no longer allowing government agencies to do this. Since then the federal government has experienced 10 full blown shutdowns.

The same way that in the episode the Bartlet administration was trying to make a deal with a new speaker, the Biden administration is currently trying to make a deal with a new speaker, Speaker Mike Johnson, to avoid a government shutdown. We currently have continuing resolutions funding the government through the new year.