The end of the 2025 shutdown looms

A special Monday Memo given last night's developments. We'll skip tomorrow's Memo in recognition of Veterans Day, which we hope you're able to observe and celebrate.

While Next Interior is glad that our civil servants in Interior (and beyond) will be able to get back to fulfilling the mission and get paid to do it, it’s clear that the decision of a small number of Senate Democrats (and an independent) last night to vote for cloture on the Continuing Resolution while getting nothing substantial in return will only exacerbate the problem now and into the future. There are a few different ways we could put it.

“Capitulation.” That’s one way to describe it. The claim that they “got” back pay for federal civil servants who have been furloughed is bunk because that is already law and you can’t get something you never lost. The issue is that the administration flouts the law when it suits them.

The cavers' claim that they forestalled RIFs—just until the end of January—is largely bunk too. Many if not most of the proposed and ongoing federal RIFs are questionably legal at best. Again, the issue is that this administration refuses to follow laws it doesn’t like, such as laws appropriating funding to programs and the people who make the programs work. The RIFs are going after programs and even entire federal agencies that are still funded by Congress, but the administration proceeds anyway. If this group of senators had negotiated meaningful accountability measures for appointees who violate those laws—such personal liability with heavy fines and jail time, like federal data protection laws—then it might be something to note. But they didn’t get that…they didn’t get anything.

“Encouraging hostage-taking.” That’s another way to describe the decision. This group has demonstrated that their lack of spine will always win the day, which will only encourage Republicans to continue their practice—not being partisan, just an empirical fact—of taking federal workers hostage when they don’t get their way. To be clear, it’s not just our civil servants who are taken hostage, it’s everyone who relies on the federal government for services, ranging from access to national parks or public lands and protecting wildlife to carrying out critical science and fulfilling obligations to Tribes. The cavers just said, “Please do it again, maybe ramp up the destruction, you know we’ll be here to bail you out.”

We could go on…“Abandoning people who need insurance” is an example from the central issue of healthcare...you get the idea. 

Conclusion

Unfortunately, we have to expect more of the same until something fundamental changes. For example, this problem might be solved if the Justice Department rescinds the Carter-era memo deciding that the Anti-Deficiency Act (ADA) precludes operations during a lapse of funding; see more detail here. If that’s not available, then we should insist that Congress amend the ADA to clarify that government functions "shall continue at the prior year’s levels until superseded by current-year appropriations." (I say we also insist that the funding level be previous year plus 10%, to account for inflation and help point the budget in a healthier direction.) While neither may be terribly likely, they’re more likely than these few senators standing up for their constituents, for the federal workforce, for the rule of law beyond what is easy and convenient.