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House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) on Friday floated changing the structure of the federal government’s fiscal calendar by moving the end-of-year Sept. 30 deadline to prevent the cycle of Congress constantly facing shutdown risks in September.
“We’re going to have to figure out, as we go forward, how we move that timeline up — or we put the year, the fiscal year-end, in a different place,” Emmer said in an interview with The Hill on Thursday.
He pointed to the congressional routine of not having members in Washington for votes for the month of August.
“You go do your district work period in August. You’re gone, working your district, doing everything else — you come back after Labor Day, and it’s simply too short. Even though all those bills are done, there’s still so much left to do,” Emmer said.
His comments came as Congress is barreling toward a potential government shutdown on Oct. 1, and will need to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government. The House approved a seven-week “clean” CR on Friday, which the Senate rejected later in the day — increasing the odds of a government shutdown.
“Something will have to be discussed as we go forward,” Emmer said, “if we are going to accomplish our goal of going back to a regular order appropriations process.” He added there will have to be “adjustments made or commitments made as to deadlines and everything else.”
The Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 created the modern fiscal year calendar from Oct. 1 to Sept. 30 starting with fiscal year 1977.
But the last time Congress fully funded the government before the start of the fiscal year on Oct. 1 was in 1997. It has used a CR to address funding lapses in all but three years since 1977, according to a Congressional Research Service report.
Other deadlines set forth by the Budget Act are routinely missed. For instance, it calls for all of the annual appropriations bills to be completed in the House by June 30. Congress regularly passes “omnibus” or “mini-bus” packages combining the 12 regular appropriations bills that fund different portions of the government.
The federal fiscal year calendar has been changed before. Before 1977, the federal fiscal year ran from July 1 to June 30.
Some members have floated changing the fiscal calendar in the past. Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) reportedly floated starting the fiscal year on Jan. 1 when he was co-chair of a 2018 Joint Select Committee on Budget and Appropriations Process Reform, which recommended a slate of reforms that were not adopted.
House Appropriations Committee Chair Tom Cole (R-Okla.) said he thinks a big problem is how bills are prioritized.
“I think this place breaks too much and works too little, and so I would like to see more time on the calendar, particularly in June and July and in May, to get these bills done earlier so there’s not as much drama leading into September,” Cole said.
Cole said he is “happy to have the discussion” about changing the fiscal year timeline, but warned: “Deadlines are like alarm clocks around here. So until you get to the deadline, you got too many people that don’t get serious.”
Emmer said that despite the looming shutdown deadline, things are “moving in the right direction.”
“Part of the problem we have on our side is we want everything done yesterday. It’s just that business mentality of, you know, whatever’s in front of me,” Emmer said. “This is legislating. This involves 435 people with all different backgrounds, beliefs, agendas, whatever you want to call it. It’s a little bit more difficult than that. It’s not like turning a speed boat on a dime.”
“We’re moving in the right direction,” Emmer said.
