I almost put “2022” in the date above, because at the stroke of midnight last night we entered into bold new temporal territory: we have left the sodden wreckage of Fiscal 2021 behind, and entered into Fiscal 2022 without a budget! But of course I am getting ahead of myself, just like the Budget.
Here are the basics: the federal government’s fiscal year begins on 1 October of the previous calendar year. It ends on 30 September of the year with which it is numbered. Prior to 1976, the fiscal year began on 1 July and ended on 30 June, which makes perfect sense due to some other crisis. In 1974, confronting the Oil Crunch and the aftermath of my graduation from The University of The Mitten State, the Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 stipulated the change to allow Congress more time to arrive at a budget each year, and provided for what is known as the “transitional quarter” from 1 July 1976 to 30 September 1976.
Back in those pre-historic times, they figured an extra month would solve all the problems. It did, for a while. Periodically, we have to adjust things to make them seem like they make sense. At the beginning of this country’s history, the first American fiscal year started Jan. 1, 1789. That lasted until 1842, when Congress was busy with other things. Among them were worker’s rights, child labor laws and some issues in Rhode Island. Back then the 10th Amendment to the Constitution still held some authority, and the people of that original state enacted changes to state law to limit the vote. President John Tyler was feeling the impact of a protracted depression that followed the Panic of 1837 and signed a new tariff measure to raise revenue, even as Congress decided to re-organize itself.
In all that you can sense some of the continuing pressures that affect us today. The first reorganization process reflected the growth of the nation. House membership had increased steadily since 1789, and as required by the Constitution it had adjusted its Membership every 10 years following the Census in a process called ‘reapportionment.’ To accommodate the ocial and fiscal confusion, Congress changed the beginning of the fiscal year from Jan. 1 to Jul. 1 in 1842. That lasted until 1977, when everyone agreed the Oct. 1 start was the date that actually made sense.
The old concept of the Federal fiscal year was to give Congressmen elected the November before and who took office in January time to immerse themselves in the budget process for the next fiscal year.
It remains New Years today, but we would have to explain the overthrow of the entire budget process with the adoption of the “Continuing Resolution” process. If we ever slowed down enough to talk about it, we would recognize that Congress has been out to lunch on the whole Constitutional issue for a while. They outsourced regulation to the Executive Branch agencies, assuring us they still had rigid oversight for all the rules that spurt out of the Offices, Agencies and Bureaus. Then they gave up budgeting. The Change of Fiscal Year was still useful, but instead of debating the particulars of the proposed budget, they pass a “Continuing Resolution” ostensibly for a limited amount of time. Since that has been going on since the last “Turn of the Century,” it would be safe to stipulate we have effectively dumped the old system of budgeting. That is one under which the House, Senate and President have all agreed on a bill to fund the government for an entire fiscal year. That is how it is supposed to work, anyway.
Under the Continuing Resolutions, the previous year’s budget is accepted as the baseline for continued spending. Which includes all the screw-ups, changes and modifications that used to get sorted out in the committees on the way to passing the 13 separate appropriations bills. Now, a Continuing Resolution can be passed without attribution, and all those crazy programs and schemes that directly benefit members can be slipped into the budget without discussion.
There is some discussion when these things show up in the rear-view mirror. A favorite was gender studies in Pakistan, but there are dozens and dozens of them every year, passed without discussion. So it is probably better to characterize what is happening now is a basic change to how the government operates. Who gets the money. Cui bono, you know?
But we still have fiscal years, and they still provide a useful function in determining what number to put on all the new money they will need to print to accommodate the demand. So, as an old budgeteer, I pride myself on at least following the CR’s as they wend their way forward. I was talking to some old colleagues who still operate inside the Federal system. There were the little and big bills ostensibly about “infrastructure,” but which also contain provisions for building a huge new Internal Revenue Service, tracking the miles on our cars and all sorts of other exciting new programs that would not survive five minutes of debate in the old system.
So, we got through the Continuing Resolution, the Budget Ceiling, the Big and Little bills and when they had relationships with the actual calendar. We thought we had an idea of what is left to come. Someone asked about the NDAA- the National Defense Authorization Act. You know, the Defense budget. Last time I checked, it had been bumped up to around three-quarters of a Trillion dollars. But of course, we didn’t know where it was. Must be in the CR, right? But what the hell, it is less than a Trillion, so it really is only chump change in the new system.
They say 2022 is “The Year of the Tiger” in China. What could go wrong?
Happy New Year!
Copyright 2021 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com