Q&A: Government Shutdowns Fail the American People

Q&A: Government Shutdowns Fail the American People

With U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley

Q: How do government shutdowns fail the American people?

A: The insufferable pattern of government shutdowns stemming from a lapse in approved funding needs to stop once and for all. Since 1981, failure to enact the 12 annual appropriation bills by the end of the fiscal year has resulted in a handful of major government shutdowns. After a 21-day shutdown during the Clinton administration, I learned shutdowns are a zero-sum game. Nobody wins. It costs money to shut down the government and it costs money to open back up. Government serves the people; it can't serve the people when it doesn't have spending approved to operate.

That's why I'm opposed to using shutdowns as "leverage" in an attempt to score political points or policy wins. Here's what happens: government services are delayed; federal workers are furloughed with eventual backpay; and the economy shrinks by tens of billions of dollars.

Just last fall, flawed partisan grandstanding earned the ridiculous distinction of producing the longest full federal government shutdown in history: 42 days, from Oct. 1 to Nov. 12, 2025. Most recently, reckless partisanship has led to the longest partial government shutdown - starting Feb. 14, 2026, and counting. Refusing to fund the Department of Homeland Security puts our national security at grave risk. The American people are less safe while tens of thousands of frontline federal employees worked without pay for weeks on end. It's inconceivable the Democrat Minority Leaders in Congress are putting partisan grandstanding before homeland security, particularly when the U.S. military is engaged in conflict with Iran. Congress created the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) after 9/11 to integrate our national security apparatus to prevent another attack on U.S. soil. The American people need all of the agencies under the umbrella of DHS to be firing on all cylinders at all times, from border security and cybersecurity, to preventing agroterrorism and protecting the nation's transportation systems and energy grid.

Q: What are you doing to end government shutdowns once and for all?

A: I've teamed up with Sen. James Lankford of Oklahoma to reintroduce the Prevent Government Shutdowns Act. Our legislation would take government shutdowns off the table as a negotiating tool. If appropriation bills aren't completed on time, funding continues at previous year levels and Congress is required to stay in Washington, D.C. until the job's done. Our bill puts the pressure on lawmakers - where it ought to be - and removes the burden on the American people who suffer when they miss a paycheck; National Parks close; airport security screening is backed up for hours; and frontline workers at the IRS, Social Security, Veterans Affairs and Farm Service Agency aren't at their desks to assist people.

We can't allow government shutdowns to become "business-as-usual." I often tell my colleagues in Congress that Washington is an island surrounded by reality. During my annual 99 county meetings, I'm reminded by Iowans just how out-of-touch Washington is from the real world. In the real world, businesses, farms and households can't operate with a blank check from the federal treasury. Washington has dug a $39 trillion hole by its borrow-and-spend mindset. The pathway to fiscal sanity must begin with a return to regular order. For two decades, I've pushed to convert Congress' annual appropriations process to a two-year budget cycle. The rinse-and-repeat way of doing business is fueling deficit spending and leading to government shutdowns.

In the event of a lapse in government funding, our bill would implement an automatic continuing resolution (CR) on a rolling 14-day window, based on most current spending levels enacted in the previous fiscal year to ensure continuous government services.

It also would implement the following restrictions:

• No taxpayer-funded travel allowances for official business, except one return flight to return to Washington, D.C.;
• No official funds may be used for member or staff delegation travel;
• No other votes would be in order unless they pertain to passage of the appropriation bills or mandatory quorum calls in the Senate.

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