As the U.S. sets a new record for the length of a government shutdown, Republicans should recognize that when this shutdown finally ends, it likely won’t be the last shutdown threat during Trump’s presidency. Thus, Republicans should prepare to prevent such an absurdity from occurring again.
How? The answer is rather simple.
First, Trump should revert to the original interpretation of the Antideficiency Act. Prior to the 1980 opinion by President Jimmy Carter’s Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti, the accepted interpretation of the 1884 Antideficiency Act was that the government would continue operating until funding was passed – no shutdown required. However, with the new interpretation, the government changed how it operated after almost 100 years of the Antideficiency Act.
Given President Trump’s willingness to question norms that don’t align with the Constitution or the intentions of the law when passed, Trump should just refuse to shut the government down when the next lapse of appropriations occurs. Then, if they wish, the Democrats can take him to court to shut down the government, a politically losing move for them. If they do, there would be an opportunity for the Supreme Court to affirm the historic interpretation and eliminate the shutdown cycle.
As a backup to the first suggestion, the Senate should bring back the filibuster. You may question this suggestion given the morass in the Senate, but this morass has been caused by the threat of a filibuster, not a filibuster itself. Republicans should steel themselves for an extended session during future shutdown threats and force the Democrats to actually filibuster instead of simply voting against cloture. If the Republicans had started this process at the first Senate vote on Sept. 19, the Democrats would have had to filibuster the bill for over a month and a half.
Could the Democrats have filibustered the continuing resolution for that long? Maybe.
Would it have increased the likelihood of ending this shutdown sooner due to the endurance required to maintain a filibuster that long? Yes.
Would it have made it even clearer as to which party was holding up the vote? Definitely.
These two suggestions would be simple to implement and go far toward getting the U.S. off the shutdown bus with its likelihood of increased stops in the coming years. All that is required is for the Republicans to not want a shutdown themselves and to implement historic methods. With that, they can make appropriations great again.
Matthew Hitt is a native Alabamian and an engineer.
The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of 1819 News. To comment, please send an email with your name and contact information to [email protected].
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