There are things you won't hear from Congress, President Biden, President-elect Trump, or the media. There has never been a government shutdown.
That's correct. That never happened.
To be sure, there is a budget impasse. But they never actually shut down the government. And I can't save any money. What a shutdown actually does is Create more government jobs, waste more money.
If government authorities need to monitor a nuclear power plant's cooling system, it will do so whether it is shut down or not. When enemy aircraft enter U.S. airspace, they are tracked, even by mysterious drones. When a deadly food contamination threatens millions of people, it is caught and dealt with. The government won't shut down because it can't. The consequences would be devastating.
Last week, Elon Musk, who is nominated to head the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), threatened a government shutdown and signaled he was “serious” about reducing waste. DOGE hasn't been founded yet (and will probably never become a real department), but the Efficiency Emperor has already flexed his muscles, and in the process taught us the most basic lessons about government: shutdowns and government. proves that they do not understand the threat. Shutdowns create waste rather than eliminate it. billions of dollars wasted.
One reason: Before each “shutdown,” 800,000 federal employees are relieved of their primary jobs and updated 186-page “contingency” plans in preparation for an impending shutdown. I will. Approximately 2.4 million working hours These are useless in documenting why (for example) a nuclear reactor cannot be shut down like a computer server.
Each time a shutdown develops or is threatened, or Congress passes a continuing resolution in lieu of a full-year budget, bureaucratic reporting requirements and workloads increase. Even if a shutdown doesn't happen like last week, time and money will be wasted, all wasted on a political shutdown that accomplishes nothing.
The best irony is that DOGE Potential savings of $2 trillion per year It would simply eliminate the budget uncertainty associated with a shutdown and the mountains of “efficiency” red tape created by previous so-called “government efficiency” reformers. Instead of improving the situation, Mr. Musk has only created more uncertainty. And like everyone who has tried to do this before, he's likely to wind up with even more paperwork.
As someone who has been there, let me explain what actually happens inside government agencies during a shutdown showdown in Congress.
At the National Institutes of Health, grant officers who normally have 12 months to process $100 million in cancer research now have only five months. Therefore, the quality check is compressed. Because scientific examiners work mandatory overtime at GS-14 Step 10 overtime pay ($164,102 per year), error rates have skyrocketed by 32%, even though the cost of their work is higher. I am. Scientists, on the other hand, spend their days instead of doing research. Rewrite your grant proposal to meet changing deadlines.
Contracts can get even trickier. When funding finally arrives after months of delay, contracting officers who typically take months to evaluate complex technical proposals now have just weeks. Research shows that contracts signed on such compressed schedules score 12 points lower on quality metrics than regular contracts. This means billions of taxpayer dollars have been pushed out with minimal scrutiny. Artificial deadlines trump due diligence.
But this is where tough budget debates in Congress actually create permanent bloat. Government agencies are adding new positions to cope with the staggering workload created by the threat of a congressional shutdown and an overreliance on short-term continuing resolutions to fund the government. for example:
- Shutdown Planner (GS-14, $126,788 per year)
- Continuity Specialist (GS-13, $108,885)
- Emergency Response Coordinator (GS-15, $172,500)
- Budget Contingency Analyst (GS-14, $126,788)
Note that these positions do not just disappear after the crisis is over, but rather remain in place to prepare for the next crisis. Multiply that by 523 government agencies and you have a billion-dollar bureaucracy dedicated solely to: Planning a shutdown without actually shutting down anything.
If Musk actually wants to save $2 trillion, he could start by eliminating the “efficiency” oversight requirements put in place by the efficiency czars of Christmas past.
This includes President Bill Clinton's Government Performance and Results Act and its 247-page strategic plan ($1.2 million per agency). This includes President George W. Bush's performance scorecard and metrics tracking ($670 million annually). This includes President Barack Obama's Cross-Agency Priority Goals Report ($47 million per agency). This also includes President Donald Trump's reorganization documentation requirements ($4.2 million per agency) and President Biden's new equity tracking system ($220 million government-wide).
Instead of increasing efficiency, Mr. Musk risks heading straight down the same old reform path. He will fail if he adds new reporting requirements while accepting a shutdown that will create more jobs and more permanent government positions. These measures do not eliminate waste, but rather increase it.
Consider last week's exercise just another expensive lesson in how tough debates about budgets and efficiency breed bureaucracy. This is a lesson that taxpayers cannot afford to continue learning.
Cheryl Kelly is a former federal employee and adjunct researcher at the Pell Center at Salve Regina University. She is the author of The Informed Citizen.: How the Modern Federal Government Runs” and the novel “radical american love story. ”
