Fiscal 2026 officially ended on September 30, and once again Congress averted a shutdown by passing a temporary funding extension—this time through December 11. While avoiding a lapse is welcome, it underscores a deeper dysfunction: not a single one of the 12 appropriations bills has been enacted, and the Senate Appropriations Committee has yet to release its versions.
In fact, Congress has never actually passed a real budget. A true budget would be a single bill covering all federal spending and revenue, managed by the committees responsible for overseeing those programs. The current system splits the budget into discretionary appropriations—which cover only about a quarter of spending and no revenue—and mandatory spending on autopilot, with no annual review.
The budget resolution, meant to guide the process, has been reduced to a vehicle for fast-track reconciliation when one party controls both chambers and the White House. As a result, most members have little stake in the outcome, so they rarely fight for bills they didn't help write. Appropriations arrive late, get lumped into stopgaps, and barely change from year to year.
This fragmented approach has had measurable consequences. Discretionary spending as a share of GDP has fallen from 9.7% in 1986 to 6.2% in 2025, while direct spending—net of user fees—has climbed from 9.2% to 13.7%. Revenue has remained essentially flat, averaging 17.2% of GDP over the past four decades. The gap is filled by borrowing, which fuels inflation, higher interest rates, and slower growth.
Kurt Couchman, senior fellow in fiscal policy at Americans for Prosperity and author of Fiscal Democracy in America, argues the fix is straightforward: Congress should adopt a comprehensive annual budget process that treats spending and revenue together, as businesses do. That would mean one bill, reviewed by every committee with jurisdiction, and open to amendments from all members.
Such a process would give Congress far more control over the policies driving borrowing, and it would help catch waste, fraud, and abuse that autopilot spending hides. It would also ensure that more Americans see their priorities reflected in the budget, potentially rebuilding public trust in the institution.
Couchman points to Ireland as a model. Before 2017, Ireland treated spending and revenue separately, and its debt-to-GDP ratio soared from 24% in 2007 to 119% in 2012 after the financial crisis. Once the country began managing both together, the ratio fell to 33% by 2025 as economic growth outpaced debt accumulation.
Critics may note that comprehensive budgeting would require significant procedural changes and bipartisan cooperation—something in short supply. Yet the recent GOP revolt over a $1 billion funding clawback shows that members are willing to push back on fiscal overreach. And with courts warning of crisis under flat funding, the pressure for a better approach is mounting.
Ultimately, avoiding a shutdown is not the goal—governing is. Congress won't achieve that by merely surviving the next deadline. It will get there by finally building a budget worthy of the name, one that integrates spending and revenue and gives every member a real voice.
