With the afterglow of the holiday season still boosting our spirits, it is time to snap back to an important reality. The next congressional self-induced crisis is upon us with the latest continuing resolution (CR) expiring at the end of the month. Another shutdown looms on the horizon. Even with another CR extension, Congress is simply avoiding the tough decisions that perpetuate an endless cycle of governmental dysfunction that harms us all.
For 15 of the last 16 years, Congress has failed to pass a budget on time. Just a few months ago, our nation endured the longest government shutdown in American history, indicating a situation that is getting more and more dysfunctional as Congress systemically overlooks its core constitutional responsibility. Each time they fail to pass a budget, they make our country less stable, less secure, and less sustainable. This dysfunction is harming our citizens, hurting our country, and hacking away at our credibility.
It’s long past time to break this cycle. Creative and aggressive solutions are necessary to overcome the federal government’s chronic failure to fulfill its central responsibility. The solutions to this existential crisis must revolve around the basic leadership principle of aligning incentives. It should start with making it painful for our legislative branch whenever they fall short in the basic requirement of funding the government.
Many have suggested that members of Congress shouldn’t get paid during a shutdown, nor should their staff. And while this may disproportionately harm those without the ability to endure income uncertainty, it’s a good start in properly aligning incentives. Yet, such a concept should extend beyond a shutdown by applying it to a CR as well. After all, a continuing resolution is simple shorthand for Congress failing to do its job.
There are further strategies to ratchet up the pain levels for a dysfunctional Congress, and they should be implemented immediately. We have arrived at the point where the only successful pathway forward must be based on hitting Congress where it hurts.
During a CR or a government shutdown, members of Congress shouldn’t be able to leave Washington, D.C., until they fulfill their primary responsibility; they must be mandated to stay at work. It’s a study hall concept that penalizes their failure to complete the assignment. Furthermore, during these periods, they should be prohibited from raising money, causing their fundraising machines to stagnate. Nothing would better erode the incumbent advantage and put their reelections at risk than shutting off the spigot of inbound dollars during those times when they haven’t earned the right to focus on anything other than their most basic tasks.
Special stipulations should accompany actual shutdowns to further align congressional incentives. During this past cycle, liberally applied carve-outs for mission-essential personnel and a willingness to pay military members during the shutdown made this unsustainable situation endurable. Such tactics diminished the pressure on Congress and enabled its dysfunction to linger.
During the next shutdown, the machine of government should be forced to grind to a halt. Except for true national and internal security requirements, the federal government and its functions should cease. A shuttered FAA would ground all air travel in the United States, and a closed Customs and Border Patrol would halt the transit of all international cargo via air, land, and sea. The United States would be closed for business. Additionally, there must be no carve-outs for salaries, forcing Congress to face military and civilian constituents who are irately bearing the full burden of the legislative failures.
If this sounds draconian – yes, it is, and that’s the point. It makes such situations sufficiently painful that no government would willingly stumble into such a scenario. And if they did, the impacts would be so widespread that the incumbent advantages would be wiped away during the next electoral cycle. It’s a political manifestation of mutually assured destruction.
Of course, this brings us back to the core way to align incentives for members of the legislative branch. In lieu of actual term limits, the public must institute old-fashioned term limits by refusing to vote for any federal incumbent until their institution is transformed into one that is functional and responsive. The American voter must see their congressional delegations – as nice and as helpful as they may seem back in the district – as a core part of the problem until things are turned around. We must vote them out until they prove worthy of reelection.
These concepts require strong political will and bold legislative process changes. Without the strongest pressure from the American public, it is unlikely that Congress will implement any added rules that would hold them accountable to their responsibilities. Unfortunately, without incentives that prompt proper action, we shouldn’t expect to arrest a self-perpetuating cycle of dysfunction. Yet with the proper incentives, especially those that make it painful for Congress when they fail in their fundamental roles, we can wrestle our system back to the productivity and functionality that Americans deserve.
