Three government shutdowns in 1981, 1984, and 1986 involved federal employees being furloughed for brief periods. The shutdowns were generally used by President Ronald Reagan to pressure Congress about specific provisions in appropriations bills, or to encourage Congress to pass the bills more quickly.
Prior to 1980, federal funding gaps caused by the expiration of appropriations legislation did not lead to government shutdowns. [1] However, in April 1980, Attorney General Benjamin Civiletti issued an opinion that the 1884 Antideficiency Act did require agencies to shut down during a funding gap. The 1980 federal government shutdown, during the Carter Administration, was the first. [2]
Shutdowns during the Reagan administration tended to be short and did not garner widespread notice. The Antideficiency Act was not uniformly enforced, and many funding gaps still did not lead to shutdowns at all. [3] Examples include a brief funding gap in 1982 where nonessential workers were told to report to work but to cancel meetings and not perform their ordinary duties, [4] and a three-day funding gap in November 1983 that did not disrupt government services. [5]
Prior to the 1981 shutdown, only the Legislative Branch appropriations bill had been passed. [6] Reagan vetoed a proposed appropriation bill that contained fewer spending cuts than he had proposed, [7] the first veto of his administration. [1]
Funding lapsed on November 22, but since that day was a Saturday there was no effect. [6] The next day, 241,000 federal employees were placed into furlough. [8] However, many government departments furloughed few or no people as they were present for activities to initiate the shutdown. More employees would have been furloughed if the shutdown had extended to an additional day. [9] Economists of the time believed that it cost taxpayers an estimated $80–90 million in back pay and other expenses. [8]
The second shutdown occurred on the afternoon of October 4, 1984, after Reagan mounted opposition towards a water projects package and a civil rights measure that would have reversed the Supreme Court decision Grove City College v. Bell . [8] Another point of contention was a ban on funding for covert operations in Nicaragua proposed by Senator Daniel Inouye. [10]
500,000 federal employees were placed on furlough for the afternoon. The shutdown covered nine of the 13 appropriations bills. [10] Bills had already been passed for the Legislative and Judicial Branches; the Departments of State, Justice, Commerce, and Housing and Urban Development; and independent agencies, so these were not subject to the shutdown. [11]
Congress removed the water projects, civil rights, and covert operations measures of the appropriations bill, ending the shutdown. [12] Economists estimated that the short period cost taxpayers an estimated $65 million in back pay. [8] This was the first shutdown where Congress approved legislation providing back pay to federal employees. [13]
Reagan initially threatened to veto a continuing resolution and begin a government shutdown that would have begun on October 12, 1986, in order to pressure Congress to agree on a full-year omnibus appropriations bill more quickly. However, he relented and signed it that day due to progress in a compromise regarding the bill's arms control provisions. The bill had to be sent to Reykjavík in Iceland for Reagan to sign, as he was there for a meeting with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev. [14]
However, after that continuing resolution expired, a shutdown occurred for an afternoon on October 17, 1986, in which 500,000 federal employees were furloughed. [8] All government agencies were affected by this shutdown. [15] It ended after Congress passed the omnibus appropriations bill later that day. [16] [17] Economists estimated that this shutdown cost the U.S. government $62 million in lost work. [8]
In the United States, a continuing resolution is a type of appropriations legislation. An appropriations bill is a bill that appropriates money to specific federal government departments, agencies, and programs. The money provides funding for operations, personnel, equipment, and activities. Regular appropriations bills are passed annually, with the funding they provide covering one fiscal year. The fiscal year is the accounting period of the federal government, which runs from October 1 to September 30 of the following year.
In the United States, government shutdowns occur when funding legislation required to finance the federal government is not enacted before the next fiscal year begins. In a shutdown, the federal government curtails agency activities and services, ceases non-essential operations, furloughs non-essential workers, and retains only essential employees in departments that protect human life or property. Shutdowns can also disrupt state, territorial, and local levels of government.
The Antideficiency Act (ADA) is legislation enacted by the United States Congress to prevent the incurring of obligations or the making of expenditures (outlays) in excess of amounts available in appropriations or funds. The law was initially enacted in 1884, with major amendments occurring in 1950 and 1982. It is now codified at 31 U.S.C. § 1341, § 1342, §§ 1349–1351 and §§ 1511–1519. The Act was previously enacted as section 3679 of the Revised Statutes.
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