Bills
| 3.23.22

No Budget, No Vacation: Should Congress Have to Stay in Session if it Hasn’t Passed All Spending Bills by August 1st? (S. 2930)

Do you support or oppose this bill?

What is S. 2930?

(Updated December 30, 2018)

This bill — the No Budget, No Vacation Act — would prohibit either the House or Senate from going on recess or considering any legislation unrelated to the budget on or after August 1st each year unless both chambers of Congress have passed a budget and all 12 appropriations bills. It’d also prohibit the use of funds for official travel by a member of Congress after August 1st in any year where the budget and all appropriations bills haven’t been passed through Congress.

In the Senate, if the budget and all appropriations bills haven’t been approved, the Clerk would start a quorum call every six hours and if a quorum isn’t present then a yea-and-nay vote would be held regarding whether the Sergeant-at-Arms should compel the attendance of absent and unexcused senators. Once directed to compel the attendance of such senators, warrants would be issued to allow the Sergeant-at-Arms to arrest and bring absent senators to the floor. The Sergeant-at-Arms would then be required to provide hourly status updates on the location of senators.

The federal fiscal year ends on September 30 of each year.

Argument in favor

The budgeting process in Congress is broken, and the only way it’ll get fixed is if lawmakers stay in session during August and take difficult votes on the budget and spending bills.

Argument opposed

Congress gets things done at its own pace, and this bill would more than likely cause Congress to rush through the appropriations process so they can take as much of August off as possible.

Impact

Members of Congress; and federal agencies.

Cost of S. 2930

A CBO cost estimate is unavailable.

Additional Info

In-Depth: Sponsoring Sen. Joni Ernst (R-IA) introduced this bill to prohibit Congress from adjourning for an August recess until the appropriations process is completed:

“Hardworking Iowans know that you don’t take a break until the job is done. Unfortunately, it seems like the same cannot be said for Congress, who adjourns for a month-long recess at the start of every August, whether or not they have passed a budget. This cycle of continuing resolutions and omnibus spending bills is unacceptable. We cannot continue to allow our debt to skyrocket and our military to suffer because Congress starts smelling jet fumes. Members of Congress should stay in Washington until we have completed one of our most fundamental roles: funding the federal government.”

This legislation has the support of four cosponsors in the Senate, all of whom are Republicans.


Of Note: It’s been more than 20 years since Congress last passed all of the 12 regular appropriations bills that are required to be enacted each year, and lawmakers have only accomplished that feat four times since the 1977 fiscal year.


Media:

Summary by Eric Revell

(Photo Credit: iStock / peeterv)