Same Story All Over Again

The following article originally appeared in Thann’s “The Equipped” Weekly Newsletter on September 25, 2024. For more information on Thann’s weekly email, click here.

Once again, Congress is set to approve a last minute “continuing resolution” (CR) to stave off the prospect of a government shutdown. The CR is scheduled for a Wednesday vote in the U.S. House, and the U.S. Senate is expected to follow suit before the end of the fiscal year on September 30, 2024. The CR will extend government funding until December 20, at which time . . . you guessed it, Congress will need to pass yet another last-minute spending deal.

Analysis and eternal perspective: The federal budgeting and spending process is broken, and nearly all the machinations leading up to the announcement of a “deal” are simply theater. While Article I of the U.S. Constitution gives Congress the “power of the purse” (the powers to both tax and spend the people’s money), federal spending has long been essentially on auto-pilot in a rapidly growing fashion. Congress, under the guidance of both parties, has repeatedly declined to retake control of the process, and the predictable result is chaos.

In the near term, you can set your calendar notifications for the second and third weeks of December, during which there is all but certain to be yet another “announcement” of a “deal” to prevent the government from shutting down—but failing to address any of the structural deficiencies.

In the longer term, American voters have the power to elect leaders who will once again take the power to tax and spend seriously. Luke 16:10 reminds us that those who “can be trusted with very little can also be trusted with much.” Jesus followers of every political stripe should lead the way in expecting a government that takes seriously the “power of the purse.”