Congress can end government shutdowns and partisan brinksmanship

Increasingly, Americans are forced to watch the same avoidable drama unfold in Washington: a government shutdown, partisan brinkmanship, and last-minute deals that satisfy almost no one. Federal workers are frustrated with furloughs and missed paychecks. Small businesses that rely on government contracts face constant uncertainty. Federal services are delayed. Markets wobble. Public trust erodes a little more each shutdown.

It doesn’t have to be this way.

Congress should pass the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act. Ending shutdown politics is not a partisan victory; it’s a structural reform that serves the long-term interests of the country. It would help restore a functional appropriations process, strengthen Congress’s constitutional role over federal spending and end the stupidity of shutdowns.

Right now, the Department of Homeland Security has been shut down for more than 40 days. TSA officers, Coast Guard personnel, cybersecurity professionals, FEMA staff, customs officials, and federal investigators responsible for fighting drug cartels, human trafficking networks, and child exploitation have been either working without pay or unable to work at all. These are the professionals protecting Americans at airports, ports of entry, and online from cyber threats, they should be supported, not ignored. 

The Department of Homeland Security was created after the 9/11 attacks, to ensure the United States never again misses the warning signs that could prevent a tragedy. Yet today, at a time of heightened global tensions and evolving cyber threats, the very department tasked with protecting the homeland is unfunded. That is incompetent governance and irresponsible national security.

Government shutdowns are often described as leverage — tools one party can use to extract concessions from the other. In practice, they harm ordinary Americans far more than political adversaries. The Prevent Government Shutdowns Act addresses this structural flaw directly.

If Congress fails to pass appropriations bills on time, the bill automatically continues government funding at current levels through a temporary continuing resolution and it keeps the congressional negotiations going until they are solved. Under the new law, members of Congress would be required to remain in Washington and continue working seven days a week, until the spending bills are finished. Official travel, recesses and consideration of other legislation would be restricted until the appropriation bills are done. It is as simple as the reality at school of staying after class, if you don’t finish your work. 

If the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act passed, federal workers would not suffer the cost of congressional gridlock, members of Congress would suffer the cost. Critical services, from national security operations to airport screening to disaster response, would continue as normal, even as Congress works to complete the appropriations process. This would make a big difference, since the last year all 12 appropriations bills were passed on time was 1997.

Removing the shutdown threat would restore the focus to policy rather than crisis management.

The U.S. faces serious challenges: rising debt, global instability, cyber threats, and growing demands on federal agencies. Addressing those challenges requires a government that can function predictably and responsibly.

The Prevent Government Shutdowns Act will not eliminate partisan disagreement. Nor should it. Robust debate over spending priorities is healthy in a democracy. But manufactured crises damage our republic. We should have serious, even heated, debates to solve our debt and deficit, but federal workers and the American people should be held harmless during the fight. 

At a moment when Americans are hungry for evidence that their leaders can still govern responsibly, passing the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act would be a meaningful place to start.

James Lankford is the senior senator representing Oklahoma and sponsor of the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act. Will Burger is senior federal affairs liaison at Americans for Prosperity.

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