How Budget Battles Keep the Economy in Limbo

President Obama proposed a $3.7 trillion budget in February. But as the new fiscal year starts, there's still no final budget in place.

This post is in reference to the article “How Budget Battles Keep the Economy in Limbo” by Marilyn Geewax of National Public Radio. The article was written on October 2, 2011.

     Congress has already caused a stir with the approval of a stopgap-funding bill to keep the government operating. With the fiscal year beginning on October 1, Congress has delayed an official budget plan for the year. This has become a popular trend since the 1970s and last year the stopgap bill lasted over half of the fiscal year. A stopgap-funding bill is a temporary spending bill until the US budget is set. It’s hard to believe that the US government would ever stop operating, but if there was not an opportunity to employ stopgap funding it could, at least theoretically.

     Stopgap-funding delays every government funded venture – people working directly or indirectly for government-funded industries don’t know their budgets, and so they delay both their business and personal plans.

     I recommend reading the article. It may make you aware or increase your intolerance to the way government works and may press upon you to have a voice in what happens in government. The stopgap funding affects multiple parts of the government including Congress and federal agencies and could have an adverse affect on public opinion. Potentially, someone you know has been negatively affected by the budget delays.

Embedded link: http://www.npr.org/2011/10/02/140961812/federal-budget-uncertainty-weighs-on-economy