Funding the government on time was once the most basic thing Congress did. Today, it has become one of the hardest. Shutdown brinkmanship has turned routine appropriations into a recurring hostage crisis, the threats facing the country are multiplying, and with a consequential midterm election ahead, no one can assume the next Congress will be any steadier than this one.
In a moment this volatile, a government that cannot reliably fund itself is a reality the country cannot afford.
However, in the midst of drama and pessimism, there are reasons to be hopeful. First, after years of delay, short-sighted politics, and last-minute deals by both parties, the House Appropriations Committee, under the leadership of Chairman Tom Cole (R-OK), reported all 12 annual appropriations bills through the full committee while leadership advanced measures to the floor for fiscal 2026.
That may sound procedural, which it is. But it matters because it represents Congress reclaiming its constitutional role under Article I and taking responsibility for how taxpayer dollars are spent. Second, this coming Wednesday, the House Appropriations Committee will hold its first full-committee oversight hearing in over 18 years.
Remarkably, Cole chose the topic of shutdown reform. The committee is showing that it is more than willing to put its money where its mouth is in fighting for the congressional power of the purse.
This progress is good for Americans and should not be abandoned. The costs of failure are too high and already realized.
The 43-day federal shutdown of 2025, initiated by Senate Democrats, cost the economy billions of dollars, furloughed hundreds of thousands of workers, and rattled financial markets.
Before the country could fully recover, a second funding lapse strained airport operations and security and weakened disaster preparedness. When Congress governs by crisis, small businesses lose certainty, families lose stability, and public confidence erodes.
The American people understand this better than many politicians do. Polls show broad, bipartisan opposition to shutdown politics. Voters are not demanding more chaos. They are demanding competence, leadership, and results.
Restoring regular order is exactly the right goal, and the fiscal 2026 process proved what committed leaders can accomplish when they insist on doing the work the right way. Let’s hope it continues.
But a process that depends on the determination of any one chairman is only as durable as his tenure. The lasting challenge is to build a system that rewards that discipline on its own, one that holds no matter who holds the gavel or what the next election brings.
That means pairing fiscal 26 momentum with the guardrails to protect the process moving forward.
Two commonsense reforms would help. First, Congress should end shutdown politics for good by ensuring that when a deadline slips, the government stays funded and lawmakers stay at the table until the work is done. This removes the shutdown as a weapon aimed at the American people. The Prevent Government Shutdowns Act does just this. Second, Congress should commit to doing a real budget. A clear, comprehensive framework would force the tough choices early and help Congress finish on time. Neither reform replaces regular order; both make it stick.
The alternative is drift, atrophy, and chaos. When lawmakers cannot complete appropriations responsibly, power inevitably shifts to the executive branch and, by default, the unelected bureaucrats running executive agencies. At that point, elected representatives lose control over spending. Massive omnibus bills assembled at the eleventh hour by a select few in congressional and committee leadership only accelerate that slide, asking the majority of rank-and-file members to vote on thousands of pages they had no hand in shaping.
Moving individual bills through the open, deliberative process is the antidote, and there is no substitute for doing the work in public view.
OPINION: ARCTIC FROST ISN’T THE SCANDAL. WHAT COMES NEXT IS
The health of a constitutional republic is measured not only by the laws it passes or the crises it survives, but by whether its institutions can carry out their most basic duties with discipline and consistency that must outlast any single chairman, majority, or election.
Cole has signaled he wants to build on the momentum of last year’s process and lock in the progress before the next crisis tests it. This is not the most glamorous work in Washington, but when the power of the purse functions as intended, the entire system of self-government is strengthened with it and the great American experiment is handed — intact — to the next generation.
Will Burger is senior government affairs liaison for Americans for Prosperity.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
