A Billion Wasted Here, a Billion Wasted There
Former Senator Everett McKinley Dirksen (R-IL) reportedly once said, “a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money.” In recent years, untold billions have been squandered each year due to continuing resolutions (CRs).
Most recently, on November 21, Congress finalized, and President Trump signed another continuing resolution (CR) into law. The second CR of Fiscal Year 2020, this one funds the federal government through December 20, 2019.
FMA National President Renee Johnson immediately voiced concern: “At the risk of sounding like a broken record, FMA is again relieved that Congress averted yet another government shutdown. As I said in September, a CR is preferable to a lapse in funding. However, we remain deeply dismayed about the ongoing over-reliance on short-term CRs to fund the government.”
The amount of time the government has worked under a CR has gotten worse. According to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), the Department of Defense (DOD) has “operated under a CR for an average of 119 days per year during FY2010-FY2019 compared to an average of 32 days per year during FY2002-FY2009.” But this is a problem that plagues the entire government, not just DOD.
CRs are bad for the federal workforce and bad for the country. Two years ago, the Department of the Navy (DON) released figures estimating that CRs had cost about four billion dollars since 2011. In an information paper, the Navy stated it was under CRs an average of 29 percent of each year. The Navy wrote, “this means over one quarter of every year is lost or has to be renegotiated for over 100,000 DON contracts (conservative estimate) and billions of dollars.” These are staggering figures, and specific only to the Navy. If you extrapolate the Navy’s numbers across the rest of the Department of Defense and the rest of the federal government, it is easy to see how the costs grow exponentially.
Since it can be difficult to grasp these numbers, we spoke with FMA National Vice President Craig Carter to hear about the real impact and uncertainty CRs have on a federal manager’s day-to-day work. The disruptions impact how – or if – an agency can make hiring actions, contracting actions, travel, or attend training, among many other challenges. He said, “CRs place an extra burden on federal employees. Planning, awarding contracts, and purchases of equipment and materials have to be minimized because of the time structure of the CR, depending on the different allocations of federal funds.”
Carter continued, “We also have to short-term plan with the money that was approved from last year’s budget, without knowing if there are any increases or decreases in funding for the different agencies,” he said. “CR's lower the morale of federal employees by displaying uncertainty. We are left to wonder if we will even have a job if the federal budget is not passed, or if the CR is not extended. Federal workers are proud of the jobs we perform and the services we provide for the United States. We want to continue to perform these services the American people depend upon.”
FMA was encouraged by the two-year bipartisan budget deal Congress and the Administration agreed to and passed in August 2019, preventing sequestration and raising the debt ceiling. The document even called for “orderly and timely consideration” of FY2020 spending bills, but mere weeks remain on the second CR of the fiscal year. Members of Congress frequently say they want to run the government like a business. But a business that constantly ran with budget uncertainty and delayed funding would never thrive or stay in business long. FMA implores Congress and the Administration to come together and fully fund FY 2020.
The views reflected in this column are those of FMA and do not necessarily represent the views of FEDmanager. To learn more about the Federal Managers Association (FMA), visit their website: FedManagers.org.