Sen. Rand Paul To Introduce ‘Government Shutdown Prevention Act’

WASHINGTON, D.C. – The short-lived government shutdown of 2018 was one of a series of budget cliffs the U.S. Congress constantly creates for itself through the use of Continuing Resolutions that only kick the can a little bit farther down the road. The result is high political drama, brinkmanship, and higher spending of your taxpayer dollars.

Congress has gone years without passing a full budget bill. This is the case, in part, because the path of least resistance for Big Government is to wait until funding is about to run out, and with a gun to their heads, craft a ‘stop-gap’ temporary spending measure that bakes in growth in program spending.

Politicians on Capitol Hill that make good common sense are few and far between, but Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) is certainly one of them.

He is introducing a bill to end the constant fiscal time bombs of Continuing Resolutions by requiring up or down votes on individual spending measures.

I’m introducing a bill to mandate that spending go through a normal appropriations process so we vote on spending individually. I call my bill the Government Shutdown Prevention Act and I’m introducing it this week in the Senate because Americans deserve real spending reform. pic.twitter.com/BIsCYd6eL7

— Senator Rand Paul (@RandPaul) January 23, 2018

God forbid the Swamp treat our tax money with respect and appropriate it via regular, constitutionally mandated budgets, in which each program budget is voted on. American families must approach their own financial obligations – bills, debt service, savings, vacations, etc. – in the same way. You set priorities, make necessary adjustments, and keep the fiscal house in order.

Paul’s bill won’t only prevent ‘shutdown showdowns,’ it will also go a long way toward eliminating the constant horse trading that goes on in Washington, where one spending item, like Defense, is held hostage to factions’ wishlists.

This way, Democrats can’t demand increases in domestic spending in exchange for their support of increased military spending. They will vote on each, individually – as it should be.

If they still wish to vote against funding the military, that is their prerogative. Voters may have something to say about that come election time.

Here’s to hoping that after the latest peek over yet another fiscal cliff, there is widespread motivation to enact such regular order to the budgeting process.

We know, already, that President Trump supports a full budget. The House Freedom Caucus can likely wield their influence here as well.

Let’send this budget nonsense once and for all and lay the foundation for REAL spending reforms.