Government Shutdown Avoided — For Now

President Trump has signed a temporary government funding bill, officially avoiding a shutdown that would have begun October 1.

That's the good news.

The fine print?

Congress basically bought itself another 15 weeks to finish the work it was already supposed to have done.

The legislation keeps federal agencies funded through December 11, meaning government workers can stay on the job, federal programs continue operating, and Americans don't have to deal with another shutdown—at least not yet.

So why did we need another temporary funding bill?

Every year, Congress is supposed to pass 12 appropriations bills that determine how the federal government will spend money.

This time, Congress didn't finish them.

Not one of the 12 full-year spending bills was completed before the deadline.

So instead of agreeing on a full budget, lawmakers passed what's called a continuing resolution, or CR.

Think of it as Congress hitting the snooze button.

Government stays open. Current funding generally continues. And lawmakers get a new deadline to figure everything else out.

At least they agreed on something.

The House passed the temporary funding measure by a pretty overwhelming 370–48 vote, after the Senate had already approved it.

And I'll give both parties credit for this much:

Avoiding a government shutdown was the responsible thing to do.

Federal employees shouldn't have to wonder whether they'll be working or getting paid because politicians can't reach an agreement.

Americans shouldn't lose access to government services because Washington can't get its act together.

But let's not confuse avoiding a crisis with solving the problem.

They're not the same thing.

December could be a very different story.

There's another little detail that makes this interesting.

The new deadline comes after the November 3 midterm elections.

That means lawmakers managed to remove a potentially ugly shutdown battle from the campaign season and push the difficult spending decisions until after voters cast their ballots.

Convenient timing? You can decide that for yourself.

But those elections could also determine which party has the stronger hand when Congress returns to negotiate the actual spending bills.

So the fight hasn't disappeared.

It has simply been rescheduled.

Meanwhile, there's a much bigger number hanging over all of this.

The national debt has now crossed $40 trillion.

A temporary spending bill doesn't address that.

It doesn't resolve the larger disagreements over federal spending.

And it doesn't magically produce the 12 appropriations bills Congress still needs to finish.

It just keeps the lights on while lawmakers try again.

And to be clear, keeping the government open is absolutely better than shutting it down.

But maybe our expectations for Congress shouldn't be so low that successfully avoiding a self-created crisis counts as a major accomplishment.

For now, there's no shutdown.

Federal agencies remain open.

Congress has until December 11.

Then we'll find out whether those extra 15 weeks were actually used to solve the problem—or whether Washington simply finds another snooze button.

That's the fine print.

— Political Fine Print