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U.S. Senator Katie Britt, R-Ala., recently joined a bipartisan group of 11 colleagues as a co-sponsor of Senator James Lankford’s, R-Okla., Prevent Government Shutdowns Act of 2023, legislation that would permanently end the practice of shutting down the federal government and disrupting critical services if Congress fails to enact spending bills by the start of the next fiscal year.
Specifically, under the bill’s provisions, if Congress does not enact all 12 appropriations on time, an automatic 14-day Continuing Resolution (CR) would be triggered and keep funding at the previous fiscal year’s levels. If there is no resolution at the end of two weeks, automatic 14-day CRs would go into effect on a rolling basis until either all appropriations bills are enacted or a long-term CR is enacted.
In addition, while the federal government is operating under the automatic CRs, members of Congress could not use any official funds for travel, must hold daily sessions on the floor (including weekends), and could not consider any other measures other than appropriations bills. The travel restrictions would also apply to congressional staff and officials from the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
“The American people are tired of seeing critical government services being held hostage while Congress irresponsibly pushes to pass massive spending bills at the last minute. Taxpayers shouldn’t be forced to keep paying the price for this budgetary political brinksmanship. This commonsense bill would ensure we have a fail-safe mechanism in place that will take these drastic options off the table, so members of the Senate and the House have time to draft the best bills possible in a transparent, accountable, and judicious manner,” said Senator Britt.
In addition to Senator Britt, co-sponsors of Senator Lankford’s bill include Senators Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., Ron Johnson, R-Wisc., Angus King, I-Maine, Rick Scott, R-Fla., Mark Kelly, D-Ariz., Steve Daines, R-Mont., Kyrsten Sinema, I-Ariz., Bill Cassidy, R-La., Mike Braun, R-Ind., John Barrasso, R-Wyo., Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, and Cynthia Lummis, R-Wyo.
Senator Britt is also a co-sponsor of Senator Braun’s No Budget, No Pay Act.
