Australia and the World Past and Present

The US has a long history of federal government shutdowns.

They are an symptom of the country’s political division.

If appropriations bills don’t pass the Congress and the Senate, public servants can’t be paid and many government operations cease.

It is common for workers to be furloughed. They are told to stay at home and salary payments are stopped. The longer the shutdown goes on, the more difficult it becomes for government workers to pay their bills. They still need to cover their mortgage repayments, utility bills, food and other necessities.

In the last 50 years there have been more than 20 such shutdowns.

President Carter had 7 on his watch, with the longest lasting 10 days.

Reagan had 8. His longest was 3 days.

Clinton had to contend with 2. The longest stretched out to 21 days.

There were 3 shutdowns during Trump’s first presidency. They ranged from 3 hours to 35 days. The shutdown that occurred from December 2018 to January 2019 was the longest in history to that point.

The current shutdown began on October 1 and has just become the longest shutdown in history.

Given that Trump faced shutdowns in his first presidency, they are not new to him. He has dealt with them before. He knows how it feels to be in the driver’s seat while they are playing out.

Trump seems to have a higher level of tolerance than other presidents for letting them continue.

Normally, presidents are very concerned about how shutdowns will affect their popularity. Shutdowns have the potential to lose them votes. Government workers will be less likely to vote for the president next time around if they are not being paid. There is all the chaos and the inability of workers to get on with their jobs. There is the interruption to their careers.

More and more flights are being cancelled. Air traffic controllers are not being paid. They have now been working for a month without pay and more and more of them are refusing to turn up for work. Naturally, there is a flow on effect to air travel. Travellers are inconvenienced and can’t get to where they want to go.

In airports, television announcements remind Americans that the blame lies squarely at the feet of Democrats on Capitol Hill.

Most countries can’t operate without the passing of appropriations bills.

Australia is the same. If supply is blocked in the Senate, the government runs out of money. If this continues, it can spark an all-out constitutional crisis. This has happened only once in Australia’s history, during the Whitlam era. In the Australian context, government shutdowns are exceptional. The “dismissal” was one of the most explosive political events ever. Many Labor supporters who lived through it still bear scars.

The Governor-General dismissed the Prime Minister and installed the opposition leader as caretaker Prime Minister.

The Australian Constitution has never been amended to ensure that it never happens again.

Therefore, it is possible that the same situation could be created any time that appropriation bills come up for the vote.

But this doesn’t happen.

The Senate usually guarantees supply.

To date (although not required by the Constitution) the political convention to provide supply is so strong that no leader has dared refuse it.

One might say that shutdowns are simply part of the political environment in the US. But they are lasting longer and longer over time.

They give a sense of a perpetual, rolling crisis.

I sometimes wonder how it is possible for the US to maintain its strength within this system.

Let’s consider another superpower rival – China. To be sure, China has its own internal political machinations. But outwardly there tends to be a front of unity and a clear strategic direction. China does not have internal spoilers refusing to give the government the money that it needs.

The Draft Budget is submitted to the National People’s Congress each March. The NPC then votes to approve the budget. Approval is almost always unanimous. In the Chinese system, authority for the budget is concentrated in the executive branch.

American troops are currently operating without pay. An anonymous private benefactor has offered to provide millions of dollars to help pay their salaries. Even so, the payment wouldn’t even begin to cover the amount needed to cover all army wages. What is going on in the US that the government isn’t paying its own soldiers and private benefactors are offering to help foot the bill?

If your citizens can’t fly around the country, your economy will suffer. If your government workers are not being paid, are not coming into the office and not fulfilling their duties, your country will begin to weaken. If you troops are not being paid, it will have a negative effect on your armed forces.

Trump is different. Most Presidents are chomping at the bit to return to normalcy. Trump seems to revel in the chaos. For the moment, he seems to want to draw out the shutdown and blame Democrats for any fallout. He seems to be betting that the longer the crisis goes on, the more people will blame Democrats.

It appears that Republican leaders have been reluctant to recall Congress to resolve the stalemate.

The US Constitution requires Congress to meet at least once a year, starting on January 3 unless otherwise set by law. It is up to each chamber to set its own daily and weekly sitting schedules. The President can can call special sessions of Congress or summon either chamber separately if he deems it necessary. This power is rarely invoked.

On the one hand, it suits Trump to not have Congress sitting. He doesn’t have much time for the legislative branch of government anyway. If Congress isn’t sitting, it has less ability to restrain Trump. It leaves Trump and his executive branch to operate with a lot of freedom. But long-term, he can’t do much without Congress money.

Trump is having his fun for now. But long-term the country will suffer if there are frequent federal shutdowns. If this is to be the permanent modus operandi of US politics, then American power will be begin to decline.