Should Congress shorten or eliminate August recess…

Tampa FL

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…to spend more time on passing a budget? There are 12 appropriations bills that fund the government that must be passed every year, but usually none get passed by July 31 even though the budget proposal is usually released months ago. Then, at the end of September, none of those 12 bills are considered or passed and Congress is scrambling to pass a continuing resolution to avoid a government shutdown. Continuing resolution do not resolve anything but continues the cycle of of wasteful government spending. This happens every year no matter which party controls Congress and/or the White House. The last time a budget was passed on time was 26 years ago. Virginia Congressman Robert Wittman often asks to cancel August recess until a budget is passed. He says “One of Congress’ most basic duties is to pass a budget and fund our government — yet, year after year, we continue to find ourselves budgeting by crisis. Instead of buckling down and getting spending bills done on time, we allow our government to be funded by continuing resolutions (CRs). These last-minute, stop-gap measures deny lawmakers the opportunity to thoroughly debate government spending and update funding priorities. CRs also prevent federal agencies from recruiting and/or hiring necessary staff, efficiently managing existing programs, or cutting programs that are wasting taxpayer dollars. Years of passing CRs to fund the government have led to wasted taxpayer money and government inefficiencies.” I know of no business that closes for an entire month or allows their employees to take a month long vacation even when they miss deadlines. Recess is officially known as “district work period”, but many lawmakers use the August recess to take vacations or congressional trips overseas.