WEBVTT - How Government Shutdowns Work 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:03.400 Hello, Stuff you should know, come and see us in 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:07.760 Orlando or New Orleans because that's your last chance. Yeah, Orlando, 0:00:07.840 --> 0:00:10.360 we're going to be at the Plaza Live October nine. 0:00:10.480 --> 0:00:13.160 New Orleans We're going to be at the Civic Theater October. 0:00:14.120 --> 0:00:16.759 Just go to s Y s K live dot com 0:00:16.840 --> 0:00:19.560 and you will find info and links to buy tickets 0:00:19.760 --> 0:00:21.880 and then you can come see us because they won't 0:00:21.960 --> 0:00:24.240 let you in the door without them. I'm sorry, that's right. 0:00:25.000 --> 0:00:27.040 And if you want to come see me, I will 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:30.600 be in Chicago at Lincoln Hall on September twelve, and 0:00:30.720 --> 0:00:33.200 I will be in Austin, Texas at the North Door 0:00:33.400 --> 0:00:36.680 on October two. Uh. Ticket links are weirdly hard to find, 0:00:36.960 --> 0:00:39.479 so just look up End of the World, Josh Clark, 0:00:39.840 --> 0:00:42.760 Austin or Chicago and you will find what you're looking for. 0:00:43.159 --> 0:00:47.400 See you guys soon. Welcome to Stuff you Should Know, 0:00:47.640 --> 0:00:56.160 a production of I Heart Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, 0:00:56.200 --> 0:00:58.440 and welcome to the podcast. So I'm Josh Clark, and 0:00:58.480 --> 0:01:01.440 there's Charles W Chuck, Brian, there's Jerry over there, and 0:01:01.480 --> 0:01:04.920 this is the podcast. Like I said, in particular, it's 0:01:04.959 --> 0:01:08.039 the Stuff you Should Know podcast. So if that's not 0:01:08.080 --> 0:01:10.160 what you're here to listen to, you're in the wrong place. 0:01:10.600 --> 0:01:12.399 And if you don't want to listen to us talk 0:01:12.440 --> 0:01:15.560 about government shutdowns, then you're in the wrong place. But 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:20.120 who doesn't want to know about government shutdowns? Yeah? I agree, 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:23.800 educate yourself right as a matter of fact, because it's 0:01:23.800 --> 0:01:26.800 gonna happen again soon enough. That's exactly right. That is 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:30.399 why I wanted to do this episode because I've been 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:32.480 meaning for us to do this for years now, and 0:01:32.480 --> 0:01:36.720 every time, um we do it, and it's like, every 0:01:36.720 --> 0:01:38.720 time I go to do it, say, let's do a 0:01:38.760 --> 0:01:41.560 government shutdown episode, I think, is what I'm trying to say. Sorry, 0:01:41.640 --> 0:01:43.080 just drank a red Bull because I was about to 0:01:43.080 --> 0:01:45.800 fall over, and now I'm talking really fast. Just give 0:01:45.880 --> 0:01:49.280 me like ten minutes, okay, and you're drinking a Coca Cola. Well, 0:01:49.400 --> 0:01:51.880 we don't have zero here anymore. This is all we have. 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:54.040 You want that extra caffeine kick on top of the 0:01:54.080 --> 0:01:56.920 red bull? I think I have just this twelve ounce can. 0:01:57.000 --> 0:01:58.800 It's not even gone, and I think I've burned a 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:03.000 hole in my stomach. It's crazy, but delicious. It is delicious. 0:02:03.040 --> 0:02:07.480 I'll give you that. But coke zero is really delicious 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:14.440 too for being a diet cola at any rate. Government shutdowns. Um, 0:02:14.600 --> 0:02:16.960 you were saying, Yeah, every time we go to do this, 0:02:17.120 --> 0:02:19.520 the government shuts down, so it looks like we're chasing 0:02:19.520 --> 0:02:21.560 a trend. So we have to wait. And I'm like, 0:02:21.639 --> 0:02:23.959 finally the time is right, because it wouldn't be cool 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:25.200 to do one in the midst of one. Is that 0:02:25.280 --> 0:02:29.200 the deal definitely not gotcha. No, that's like buying a 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:31.320 T shirt at a concert and then putting that T 0:02:31.480 --> 0:02:34.160 shirt on and looking around like, yeah, I'm at the 0:02:34.200 --> 0:02:38.840 concert with that horrible smell. No T shirt, especially concert 0:02:38.840 --> 0:02:42.280 t shirts they're printed out of, you know, straight chemicals, 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:46.480 out of Buffalo Bill's basement, Native skin Man. He's been 0:02:46.520 --> 0:02:49.400 on my mind a lot because of the Geen episode. 0:02:49.960 --> 0:02:52.720 Well because that, and then I just saw on the 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:55.720 movie Crusher's page someone posted a funny little thing that 0:02:55.800 --> 0:03:02.160 was a Buffalo Bill tender profile. Is really funny that, uh, 0:03:02.200 --> 0:03:04.320 and then there was something else from this past weekend. 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:07.680 There was a lot of Buffalo Bill happening. He's he's everywhere. Yeah, 0:03:07.840 --> 0:03:09.919 remember we used to send each other that that one 0:03:10.200 --> 0:03:13.880 screen shot that was great back when we shared a 0:03:13.919 --> 0:03:16.560 cubicle wall I know, and it was easy enough to 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:19.200 do that back in the day. Now we have gold 0:03:19.240 --> 0:03:23.359 plated air on chairs and no walls anywhere I take 0:03:23.400 --> 0:03:26.040 a regular air on. I think that's what you're sitting 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:30.359 here right now. It was quite comfy. So anyway, welcome 0:03:30.400 --> 0:03:33.760 to the podcast. I'm Josh, there's Chuck. We should edit 0:03:33.800 --> 0:03:36.160 all that other stuff out, don't you think, or get 0:03:36.200 --> 0:03:39.840 money from Red Bull, Coca Cola and Airon and Buffalo 0:03:39.880 --> 0:03:44.520 Bill right, um or the Buffalo Bills football team. Dang man, 0:03:44.640 --> 0:03:47.160 you just really pulled it together with that last one. 0:03:48.040 --> 0:03:51.080 So we've been through some shutdowns in our time, Chuck 0:03:51.920 --> 0:03:55.720 our day. Yeah, as a matter of fact, Um, you'd 0:03:55.760 --> 0:03:59.120 think based on how common they kind of seem. I 0:03:59.120 --> 0:04:01.840 mean every few years. There's like the federal government, I 0:04:01.880 --> 0:04:06.120 should say, for our fellow listeners outside of the United States, 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:10.440 our government is broken, right, We're talking about government shutdowns, 0:04:10.520 --> 0:04:13.160 and it's a lot like what it sounds like. I mean, 0:04:13.160 --> 0:04:15.240 we'll get to the nuts and bolts of it, obviously, 0:04:15.800 --> 0:04:21.080 but it's basically where the federal government, not state governments, 0:04:21.120 --> 0:04:26.200 but the federal USA government parts of it just stop functioning. 0:04:26.800 --> 0:04:31.200 And the reason they stop functioning is because those agencies 0:04:31.240 --> 0:04:34.360 that those parts of the federal government have not been funded, 0:04:34.600 --> 0:04:38.360 and since they haven't been funded by law, by Congressional 0:04:38.400 --> 0:04:42.040 Act from years back, they are not allowed to pay 0:04:42.160 --> 0:04:46.360 workers any longer. They're not even allowed to accept volunteer 0:04:46.440 --> 0:04:50.080 work from their workers. So with no workers, that means 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:53.440 the agency shuts down, and that's a that's a government shutdown. 0:04:53.480 --> 0:04:56.880 That's what we're talking about. Literally parts of the government shutdown. Yeah, 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.480 and again we will get into all the nuts and bolts, 0:04:59.480 --> 0:05:02.600 but it's uts down because of funding gaps, and those 0:05:02.600 --> 0:05:09.080 funding gaps happen almost always because of um entrenched politics. Yeah, 0:05:09.120 --> 0:05:13.800 it's it's two sides playing chicken over the budget, and 0:05:13.880 --> 0:05:19.280 when the government shutdown happens, neither side blinked, right. And 0:05:19.360 --> 0:05:22.000 it's also very important to point out that a big 0:05:22.040 --> 0:05:25.200 part of government shut downs is trying to get the 0:05:25.240 --> 0:05:29.360 other side too, maybe not accept blame, because no one 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:32.120 ever does, it seems like, but at least the perception 0:05:32.240 --> 0:05:36.040 in the general media that this person or this side 0:05:36.200 --> 0:05:38.520 is the one to blame. Yeah, and more often than not, 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:42.919 public polling shows that it's Congress that almost always takes 0:05:42.920 --> 0:05:47.240 to blame. Until this last one, it was always Congress, right, 0:05:47.440 --> 0:05:49.480 no matter what, which is funny that they would try 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:52.360 to pull us off because it's so politically risky, because 0:05:52.360 --> 0:05:56.279 it's so damaging on an individual level among like federal 0:05:56.320 --> 0:06:00.400 employees or just average Americans, but also on a national level. Yeah, 0:06:00.400 --> 0:06:03.240 our economy takes a huge, huge hit that we just 0:06:03.360 --> 0:06:06.159 never regain. All right, that's a great setup and I 0:06:06.200 --> 0:06:09.480 think so too, So Chuck, to start, I think we 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:13.479 should talk about how money moves around the federal government, 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:16.520 don't you. Yeah, And this is uh again, if you 0:06:16.560 --> 0:06:18.320 live outside the country, and even if you live in 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:21.719 the United States, um, you you may not understand what 0:06:21.800 --> 0:06:25.479 power of the purse means. But in the United States 0:06:25.480 --> 0:06:30.120 and in the US Constitution, Article one, Section nine, Class seven. Yeah, 0:06:30.160 --> 0:06:33.039 not even the Bill of Rights, like the Constitution. Yeah, 0:06:33.080 --> 0:06:35.120 like this is one of the first things they thought about. 0:06:35.360 --> 0:06:40.400 It was Congress who was granted control over the money. So, um, 0:06:40.520 --> 0:06:45.120 the president and can't just fund something. Uh, the Senate 0:06:45.160 --> 0:06:48.479 can't just fund something. Everything has to be agreed on 0:06:48.680 --> 0:06:52.640 and they can't spend a dime without Congress's express approval. 0:06:53.640 --> 0:06:56.960 Through this process, we're going to get into called appropriations, right, 0:06:57.400 --> 0:07:01.480 and so in the Constitution It just said the Congress 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:05.279 is the one that approves all money. Everything comes through Congress. Right, Yeah, 0:07:05.320 --> 0:07:07.520 we should read that because it does have one funny line. 0:07:07.920 --> 0:07:10.640 Go ahead in from the Constitution, no money shall be 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:14.600 drawn from the treasury, but in consequence of the appropriations 0:07:14.640 --> 0:07:17.720 made by law. So far, so good, and a regular 0:07:17.720 --> 0:07:21.480 statement of account of receipts and expenditures of all money 0:07:21.680 --> 0:07:25.120 shall be published from time to time. It's very non specific. 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:27.720 Whenever you get to it. Why not, like you know, 0:07:28.000 --> 0:07:31.920 in November of every year. I honestly don't know, because 0:07:32.000 --> 0:07:34.720 I mean from time to time makes it seem unimportant. 0:07:34.920 --> 0:07:37.840 It makes it seem uh, what's the word when you 0:07:37.840 --> 0:07:41.840 don't have to do something, makes it seem non mandatory? Yeah, optional, optional, 0:07:42.280 --> 0:07:46.160 that's the word. I know you so well after all 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:50.600 these years. So that's the from Article one of the Constitution, 0:07:51.000 --> 0:07:57.320 and presidents from seventeen seventy eight onward said, okay, I 0:07:57.360 --> 0:08:00.800 can work with that. There's a huge loophole here, like no, 0:08:00.920 --> 0:08:05.160 I can't. I can't, you know, spend money myself, Like 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:08.520 I can't pay anybody myself. I have to wait for Congress. 0:08:08.560 --> 0:08:11.800 But that doesn't mean I can't like get the work 0:08:11.840 --> 0:08:14.480 done first, and then when it comes time to pay, 0:08:14.760 --> 0:08:20.120 I can just direct this contractor vendor, whoever, militiaman to 0:08:20.280 --> 0:08:23.720 Congress to go get money, which is really I mean, 0:08:23.760 --> 0:08:26.320 that is so United States government to be like, well, 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:29.679 I'm technically not writing the check. I've just engaged someone 0:08:30.000 --> 0:08:33.120 services and now we owe them this money. Yeah, Congress, 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:35.440 pay this guy. He's he yeah, yeah, we he did 0:08:35.440 --> 0:08:37.320 what he's saying he did. And so there was this 0:08:37.400 --> 0:08:40.720 representative in Virginia who was not happy about this, this 0:08:40.840 --> 0:08:43.960 kind of precedent that had been adopted by the executive 0:08:43.960 --> 0:08:47.400 branch um. This representative said in eighteen o six that 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:52.560 presidents were acting like a saucy boy whose wealthy grandfather 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:56.040 was going to cover his needs, and that that was 0:08:56.120 --> 0:08:59.880 the case. So eventually Congress said, we got to close 0:08:59.880 --> 0:09:02.640 the sloophole, and they did in eighteen eighty four. I 0:09:02.679 --> 0:09:07.760 think yeah. The Anti Deficiency Act basically said no, you 0:09:08.080 --> 0:09:11.360 can't just uh pay the guy to paint your house 0:09:11.400 --> 0:09:13.439 and then stand there tapping your toes looking at the 0:09:13.440 --> 0:09:15.800 guy with the checkbook right exactly. As a matter of fact, 0:09:15.840 --> 0:09:20.840 they said you can't spend a single time that Congress 0:09:20.880 --> 0:09:24.839 hasn't already appropriated for that. That's right. You just can't 0:09:24.840 --> 0:09:27.400 do it so much so that again you can't even 0:09:27.440 --> 0:09:32.280 accept volunteer work unless it is basically to protect life, 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:35.960 for public safety, something really really important. But when we 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:40.520 say we fund you, Congress funds the Executive Branch, all 0:09:40.559 --> 0:09:43.720 the agencies in the federal government, we really mean it. 0:09:43.800 --> 0:09:47.080 And that's what the Anti Deficiency Act really said. Yeah, 0:09:47.120 --> 0:09:50.880 but it would take until nine when Richard Nixon signed 0:09:51.000 --> 0:09:55.720 the Congress Budget and Impoundment Control Act. It's a barn burner. Yeah, 0:09:55.720 --> 0:09:58.080 but that's what really changed everything, and that's what kind 0:09:58.080 --> 0:10:01.120 of laid out this process that we still work with 0:10:01.160 --> 0:10:04.720 today or don't work with, or sit on our hands 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:10.040 and hold our breath, right I ideally it functions kind 0:10:10.080 --> 0:10:13.839 of clunky even in its best form, but purposefully so 0:10:13.920 --> 0:10:17.719 it's to keep Congress from being profligate with its spending, right, 0:10:17.840 --> 0:10:20.520 Like I mean, it's to say, this group over here 0:10:20.640 --> 0:10:24.120 and this group over here, we're taking the same tasking, 0:10:24.200 --> 0:10:26.840 making you guys do it twice separately and then come 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:30.400 together and hammer out the details. Yeah, it's really discouraging 0:10:30.440 --> 0:10:32.320 to look at the history of our country in the 0:10:33.559 --> 0:10:35.760 you know, the idea should be that, like, all right, 0:10:35.800 --> 0:10:37.440 we know that in this country we have a lot 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:39.320 of people that feel one way about a lot of stuff, 0:10:39.559 --> 0:10:41.520 a lot of people that feel the other way, and 0:10:41.520 --> 0:10:43.920 the government's job should be to come together and negotiate 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:46.840 and find nice middle grounds. And it seems like it's 0:10:47.000 --> 0:10:51.400 more like the government just finds loopholes and is sneaky 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:54.280 and underhanded to find workarounds from actually trying to work 0:10:54.280 --> 0:10:58.400 together and find a middle ground. Stinks? Does stink? Sick 0:10:58.440 --> 0:11:01.719 of it? I'm I'm pretty fed up with government too. 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:04.600 I think most people in America, and I would gather 0:11:04.720 --> 0:11:09.480 the UK too, all right, oh man, especially right now. So, uh, 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:12.760 here's how it happens. Every year, the two chambers of Congress, 0:11:13.640 --> 0:11:17.120 they have to agree on a budget for the discretionary spending, 0:11:17.160 --> 0:11:22.240 which is I think only of the overall budget is 0:11:22.320 --> 0:11:26.880 is discretionary. Um. Everything else is mandatory or nondiscretionary, and 0:11:26.920 --> 0:11:30.640 that means stuff that you just can't not pay for, 0:11:31.040 --> 0:11:34.679 right um. And it's mostly things like Medicaid, medicare, social 0:11:34.720 --> 0:11:39.559 security entitlement programs to where these are These are mandatory 0:11:39.559 --> 0:11:42.440 programs that are created by an Act of Congress that 0:11:42.520 --> 0:11:46.640 says whatever these programs need to run and operate. That's 0:11:46.679 --> 0:11:50.199 how much Congress gives them. There's no spending levels, there's 0:11:50.200 --> 0:11:52.280 no you know what about this is like you can 0:11:52.320 --> 0:11:55.920 go in and monkey with the operation by Congressional Act. 0:11:56.280 --> 0:11:58.800 But as far as spending in budget goes, whatever they 0:11:58.840 --> 0:12:02.840 need they get. That's right. The other stuff, the discretionary stuff, 0:12:03.280 --> 0:12:06.920 that's what you say about thirty of the budget. But 0:12:07.000 --> 0:12:09.080 that's still like in two thousand eighteen that was one 0:12:09.120 --> 0:12:12.640 point two trillion dollars. And it's really important stuff. It's 0:12:12.679 --> 0:12:16.520 not like the mandatory spending is the only important stuff. 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:19.400 We're talking about. The f d A, Homeland Security t 0:12:19.640 --> 0:12:23.160 s A, UH, the n i H, National Parks, the 0:12:23.200 --> 0:12:26.280 i r S, the Department of Defense. Yeah, big time stuff. 0:12:26.280 --> 0:12:30.600 Basically everything except so security, medicaid and medicare. Oh really 0:12:30.640 --> 0:12:35.960 is that essentially? Geez? I know? All right, So this 0:12:36.000 --> 0:12:39.560 all starts, this appropriations process. Uh. It's laid out for 0:12:39.600 --> 0:12:44.199 the first Monday in February UM and this is the deadline. 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.160 It lines up with the deadline for the president to 0:12:47.280 --> 0:12:50.679 submit uh their budget to Congress, which you always here. 0:12:50.720 --> 0:12:53.920 This is the president's budget. The president over you know, 0:12:54.040 --> 0:12:56.560 overseas stuff, and approved stuff. But the president is not 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:59.800 in there with the calculator crunching numbers. No, No, it's 0:13:00.040 --> 0:13:02.640 Office of Management and Budget that does it for the president. 0:13:02.720 --> 0:13:05.240 That's right, but it's under the president's direction. The president says, 0:13:05.240 --> 0:13:07.200 I really want to do this, but I don't want 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:10.040 to do this anymore. But the thing is, it's almost 0:13:10.080 --> 0:13:12.600 like a little kid going through the Montgomery Ward wish 0:13:12.640 --> 0:13:15.880 book and then writing their list in crayon that has 0:13:15.920 --> 0:13:19.920 about the same polling power as the president's budget. It 0:13:20.000 --> 0:13:21.960 really is saying this is what the president wants to do, 0:13:22.000 --> 0:13:24.679 and then Congress either says these are good ideas or 0:13:24.720 --> 0:13:27.079 they say we're not listening to that at all, because 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:29.840 it's not legally binding in any way. There's probably in 0:13:29.920 --> 0:13:35.120 fact party line templates. They just throw down like a 0:13:35.120 --> 0:13:37.560 mad lib and they tweak it a little bit, but 0:13:37.640 --> 0:13:40.680 they say like, well, here's the Republican style budget, and 0:13:40.720 --> 0:13:44.559 here's the Democratic style budget Obama or Trump, and now 0:13:44.600 --> 0:13:47.520 do your minor tweaks. Right. I think that is kind 0:13:47.520 --> 0:13:51.880 of it's got to be because it's a huge, massive document. Yeah, 0:13:51.960 --> 0:13:54.280 they can't like start from scratch every time, can they know? 0:13:54.400 --> 0:13:56.360 It's got to be like the first few pages are 0:13:56.400 --> 0:13:58.880 what really count, you know what I mean, it's got 0:13:58.880 --> 0:14:01.880 to be. But again and this is like, uh, they 0:14:01.920 --> 0:14:04.280 call it in this article like a the wish list 0:14:04.880 --> 0:14:06.920 of funding priorities, and that's a good way to put it. 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:11.080 The Montgomery Award wish book wish list that I was 0:14:12.640 --> 0:14:16.160 Sears kid. I didn't discriminate. I went through all of 0:14:16.200 --> 0:14:19.680 them to make sure. Yeah, we didn't even have Montgomery Wards. 0:14:19.680 --> 0:14:22.200 So I never I've never laid eyes upon that catalog. 0:14:22.400 --> 0:14:25.280 It was. It was good. It was a good one. 0:14:25.320 --> 0:14:27.160 I put it up against the series one. Yeah we 0:14:27.200 --> 0:14:30.320 had Sears. And then I guess Service Merchandise was I 0:14:30.360 --> 0:14:33.080 remember that didn't they sell everything from like diamond rings 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:35.640 and Cassio keyboards? They sold everything. I think I bought 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:38.760 my very first guitar from Service Merchandise and returned it 0:14:38.800 --> 0:14:42.160 like a week later because it was cretty, and I 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:46.760 went to a real guitar store, sam Ash. No, actually 0:14:46.800 --> 0:14:48.880 I remember I went to dirt cheap music on Memorial 0:14:48.960 --> 0:14:54.560 Drives any shop local. Yeah, yeah, dirt cheap buzz marketing 0:14:54.600 --> 0:14:58.480 for a business that is no longer around. So, uh, 0:14:58.520 --> 0:15:01.160 they've got this wish list. Then it goes on to 0:15:01.240 --> 0:15:03.640 Congress and they have to pass what's called a concurrent 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:08.360 budget resolution, right, and Congress can totally ignore the president's budget. 0:15:08.440 --> 0:15:12.320 They can taken into consideration, um if the if Congress 0:15:12.400 --> 0:15:15.720 is in the controlled by the same party the president is, 0:15:15.920 --> 0:15:18.880 the president's wishes are probably going to be taken into constitution. 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:22.280 But ultimately Congress says, this is what we want to do. 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:24.440 And from what I can tell, when they come up 0:15:24.440 --> 0:15:29.480 with this concurrent um budget, right, yeah, concurrent budget a 0:15:29.560 --> 0:15:33.760 CBS are current budget resolution, it's basically just setting the 0:15:33.840 --> 0:15:36.480 spending for the year. Right. That's that's all that is, 0:15:36.480 --> 0:15:39.360 isn't it like this the cap on what the federal 0:15:39.360 --> 0:15:41.880 government can spend entirely? I think. So it's just that 0:15:42.000 --> 0:15:46.280 broad agreement of the total amount of spending, and then 0:15:46.280 --> 0:15:48.000 it starts to get divvied up. Yeah, they're not in 0:15:48.040 --> 0:15:50.720 the weeds at this point, but they're supposed to pass 0:15:50.720 --> 0:15:53.960 that by mid April. Uh. And that's where they set 0:15:54.000 --> 0:15:57.880 these spending levels for twenty categories. And this is where 0:15:57.880 --> 0:16:00.760 you know, this is where it starts tore down or 0:16:00.760 --> 0:16:03.480 not breakdown, but like in a bad way, but they 0:16:03.520 --> 0:16:06.680 start to break it down because it's such a massive thing. 0:16:07.040 --> 0:16:09.680 You gotta break it down into smaller departments. Right. So 0:16:09.880 --> 0:16:12.880 Congress says, here's the total amount of money that we're 0:16:12.880 --> 0:16:15.800 going to spend this year. Uh, And it goes to 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:20.120 the Appropriations Committee in the Senate and the Appropriations Committee 0:16:20.160 --> 0:16:22.880 in the House, and then each of them says, Okay, 0:16:22.920 --> 0:16:26.560 we've got this this whole. Let's divvy it up into 0:16:26.640 --> 0:16:30.360 twelve slices. Not necessarily equal slices. I think they'd probably 0:16:30.360 --> 0:16:34.720 be pretty lazy. Um, but they say, you know, Agriculture 0:16:34.760 --> 0:16:39.080 and Rural Development, you're going to get this much this year, Commerce, Justice, 0:16:39.120 --> 0:16:41.920 and Science you're going to get this much, like this 0:16:41.960 --> 0:16:44.760 slice of the pie. And they do that over twelve 0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:50.680 departments that roughly correspond to the different cabinet posts in 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:54.440 the federal government. That's right. And it's up to those subcommittees, 0:16:54.480 --> 0:16:57.600 those twelve different ones, once they get their little slice 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:00.600 of pie, to then decide how to eat that high. Yeah, 0:17:00.640 --> 0:17:02.360 I think it's that piece of the pie. There's an 0:17:02.360 --> 0:17:05.600 appropriation subcommittee that says, this is how you're going to 0:17:05.680 --> 0:17:08.280 spend this, and they have hearings and stuff like that, 0:17:08.320 --> 0:17:10.440 where like the heads of these departments come and say, 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:13.199 we really need this we've got some really exciting stuff 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:16.520 coming up. Give us some more money. Where we figured 0:17:16.560 --> 0:17:19.720 out how to ride sharks and hunt dolphins with spear guns, 0:17:19.720 --> 0:17:21.480 and we really want to get into that this year. 0:17:21.720 --> 0:17:23.840 Or you know, we really need to build this thing, 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:27.840 or the military really needs to upgrade that thing, stuff 0:17:27.880 --> 0:17:31.280 like that. And then these appropriation subcommittees, each one dedicated 0:17:31.320 --> 0:17:34.040 to a group of agencies or a couple an agency, 0:17:34.119 --> 0:17:36.880 just a single one, um say okay, this is how 0:17:36.880 --> 0:17:39.959 we're going to spend this money. And then once that 0:17:40.040 --> 0:17:42.320 happens in the House and the same thing happens in 0:17:42.359 --> 0:17:46.840 the Senate, those two groups, the appropriation subcommittees for each 0:17:46.880 --> 0:17:50.560 of these twelve slices of pie, come together ideally and 0:17:50.600 --> 0:17:52.440 they say, well, we came up with this, what do 0:17:52.480 --> 0:17:53.800 you guys come up with? And they say, well, we 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:56.480 came up with this, and we're off by seven billion dollars. 0:17:57.080 --> 0:17:58.920 How are we going to figure this out? That's great? 0:17:59.000 --> 0:18:02.680 Only seven billion hours, right, that's nothing these days. Well, 0:18:02.720 --> 0:18:04.760 they negotiate with each other to come up with a 0:18:04.840 --> 0:18:10.440 joint spending bill. UM. I imagine those meetings are contentious 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:15.880 and tough, and eventually, though ideally, they negotiate that spending bill. 0:18:16.000 --> 0:18:18.560 Then that gets sent to the president and they can 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:22.640 veto that or sign that. Right. So, remember there's twelve 0:18:23.119 --> 0:18:26.400 there's actually twenty four of these going on over twelve 0:18:26.440 --> 0:18:29.840 different slices of pie. And when they come back together 0:18:29.920 --> 0:18:35.080 and form twelve different appropriations resolutions, um, they can say 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:37.119 we're done, this is good, Let's send it to the 0:18:37.119 --> 0:18:39.719 president and the president can sign that. If things are 0:18:39.720 --> 0:18:42.679 going along really smoothly and Congress wants to show off there, 0:18:42.680 --> 0:18:44.919 they will say, we want to get all these together 0:18:44.960 --> 0:18:47.720 in one package, but we're going to present all twelve 0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:51.400 to the president and the president can either sign or veto. 0:18:51.600 --> 0:18:54.480 So they could the president can sign or veto each 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:58.000 one separately, in small groups or as a whole. As 0:18:58.000 --> 0:19:00.840 a whole is called omnibus. If you if you've ever 0:19:00.840 --> 0:19:02.919 heard the term omnibus spending bill and you're like, what 0:19:03.000 --> 0:19:05.399 in the world is at That just means this everything 0:19:05.400 --> 0:19:08.320 group together, right. And so one reason that you would 0:19:08.840 --> 0:19:11.080 go through the headache of trying to put all twelve 0:19:11.119 --> 0:19:14.239 of those appropriations bills into one package is that if 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:17.000 there's something in one of those appropriations bills that you 0:19:17.040 --> 0:19:19.639 want out, you've got a lot more leverage than the 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.280 other eleven that you can trade from the budget as 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:24.280 a whole to get that thing out or get this 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:27.800 thing in. If it's one appropriations bill, you have much 0:19:27.880 --> 0:19:31.159 less leverage. So that's why they would go to that trouble. 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:34.119 But that's fairly rare, I believe. Yeah, And this is 0:19:34.160 --> 0:19:37.760 all due by October one, because that is the beginning 0:19:37.760 --> 0:19:42.000 of the federal government's fiscal year, is October one. And 0:19:42.040 --> 0:19:45.120 since we've been doing this in modern times, I believe 0:19:45.160 --> 0:19:49.240 in ninety seven, um was when we started this process. 0:19:49.840 --> 0:19:52.760 Congress has passed all twelve by October one by that 0:19:52.840 --> 0:19:59.720 deadline only four times. Four times, that's right. So we'll 0:19:59.760 --> 0:20:02.639 take break and we'll discuss what happens all of the 0:20:02.680 --> 0:20:38.480 other times right after this. So okay, Congress comes. Also, 0:20:38.640 --> 0:20:41.080 big shout out to Dave Rouss. This is his first 0:20:41.800 --> 0:20:44.720 article that we're doing an episode on. Yeah, Dave is 0:20:44.760 --> 0:20:46.840 one of the great writers from how Stuff Works dot 0:20:46.840 --> 0:20:50.000 Com that we long admired over the years and tapped 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:53.360 him to do some stuff for us, tapping him. We're 0:20:53.359 --> 0:20:56.080 tapping him and he's tapping back. It's great. We've got 0:20:56.119 --> 0:20:58.080 a pretty great little stable going here. We've got Dave 0:20:58.200 --> 0:21:02.119 Russ Julia Layton in the grab st all writing for 0:21:02.160 --> 0:21:03.760 stuff you should know right now, that's right, And I 0:21:03.760 --> 0:21:05.960 think if they keep up the good work, then that's 0:21:05.960 --> 0:21:08.440 all we need. Sure, Yeah, I think so too, because 0:21:08.440 --> 0:21:11.040 we still put together our own stuff too. I want 0:21:11.040 --> 0:21:12.400 to give us a pad on the back as well. 0:21:12.400 --> 0:21:16.040 All right, that's fine, alright, So I just pulled the 0:21:16.119 --> 0:21:20.560 muscle in my I can't write this week. So Um, 0:21:20.800 --> 0:21:23.720 like we said before the break, UM, this has only 0:21:23.760 --> 0:21:27.639 happened four times in the since nineteen seventy seven that 0:21:27.720 --> 0:21:31.000 all twelve approp appropriations bills were passed by that October 0:21:31.040 --> 0:21:35.560 one deadline. So when it comes to October two, it 0:21:35.600 --> 0:21:39.639 doesn't mean if um, we haven't passed those appropriations bills, 0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:43.199 that's like everything just stops working. Because if you pay 0:21:43.240 --> 0:21:46.760 attention to the news, you will notice that there's something 0:21:46.760 --> 0:21:50.080 called a continuing resolution. So this can happen for a 0:21:50.080 --> 0:21:54.000 lot of reasons. One UM, One good and sort of 0:21:54.800 --> 0:21:57.920 non offensive reason could be that, man, we were really 0:21:57.960 --> 0:22:01.320 close and we're almost there. We just need another week 0:22:01.440 --> 0:22:03.440 or the weekend. We'll work through the weekend even to 0:22:03.480 --> 0:22:07.600 get this done. Um. A good but offensive reason is 0:22:07.640 --> 0:22:11.119 because someone farted and everyone cleared out of the chamber 0:22:11.480 --> 0:22:14.920 and missed the deadline, so they had to do it continuing. 0:22:16.119 --> 0:22:18.399 Uh No, I mean if they're close and they just 0:22:18.440 --> 0:22:20.359 need a few more days to work it out, then 0:22:20.400 --> 0:22:22.960 that can happen. They'll pass a continuing resolution, which means 0:22:23.520 --> 0:22:26.000 everything stays the same. You don't get any more money, 0:22:26.080 --> 0:22:28.480 or you don't get money taken away, just keep like 0:22:28.600 --> 0:22:32.080 operate as usual. Right. You can't increase spending. You can, 0:22:32.240 --> 0:22:35.080 you can spend differently or whatever, but you can't spend 0:22:35.080 --> 0:22:39.880 above the levels of the previous fiscal year're currently in. Right, 0:22:39.920 --> 0:22:43.760 that's right, Okay, I'm with you. I think continuing resolution, 0:22:44.160 --> 0:22:46.840 whether it's one for a day or for a year, 0:22:46.840 --> 0:22:48.840 and there have been ones that have been like year 0:22:48.880 --> 0:22:52.480 long continuing resolution. Yeah, there's no limit. You can pass 0:22:52.520 --> 0:22:56.080 them forever long you think you need. Um, it does 0:22:56.160 --> 0:22:59.200 show that negotiations are still ongoing. They haven't broken down. 0:22:59.720 --> 0:23:03.440